Ghana: Thank Goodness, an abusive legislation has been withdrawn

Some portions of Ghana’s 2012 Road Traffic Regulations Act were being considered for amendments. Spearheaded by the Ministry of Transport, the amendments to Legislative Instrument (L.I.) 2180 sought to allow government ministers, members of Parliament, and justices of the Supreme Court to drive with sirens blaring and blazing and without regard to speed limit.

We asked: to where and on what roadways?

There are several ministers of state with their deputies, some 275 members of Parliament, and 15 justices of the Supreme Court earmarked for the  exclusive rights to zoom along already congested roadways. 

Ghana has no autobahn nor freeways to accommodate hair-raising vehicles. So, getting to Parliament, the Supreme Court, or state functions or events on official duties and/or assignments at top-notch speed on potholed roads, and scattering and pushing other roadway users off and away into curbless roads in the process, was a recipe for chaos, conflict, and confusion.

There are legitimate, genuine, and perhaps international laws that allow for emergency vehicles such as ambulance, fire, police and specialized vehicles such as bullion vans to utilize sirens to drive at top speeds for safety and/or security reasons.

We don’t see any for the officials that were to have benefited from the amendments.

The President and Vice President are motorcaded and fitted with sirens and driven at top speeds, not necessarily for lateness to an appointment, but understandably for security reasons as prime leaders of the country. Such courtesies are also accorded to visiting heads of state.

The three arms of government in a democracy have their jobs cut out for them, but it’s obvious that Ghana’s Parliament – had the legislation metamorphosed into law –would have bestowed unwarranted privileges unto itself.

Hopefully, it wouldn’t have considered legislation for motorcades in the execution of their duties…and maybe other additional security details accorded to the Executive.

The exemptions, had it been passed into law, would have created more havoc on the streets of congested Accra and elsewhere in Ghana.

For a country such as Ghana, where laws are flouted, defied, and brushed aside with impunity by the powers that be, the legislation was wholly rotten and toxic. We called it Jungle Legislation.

In contemporary Ghana, abuses are inherent and are not few and far between. Official vehicle operators of the exempted might have turned into chauffeurs, shuffling children and other immediate family members from point A to point B with sirens where and when no emergency  existed.

Ghana’s Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) would have had its hands fuller than before.

Suppose there’s a collision of vehicles between a Fire Service truck on an assignment to safe life and property and a legislator in a hurry to pass a law in Parliament, or a collision between a police vehicle pursuing armed robbers and a minister of state late on a mission to cut a sod to unveil a completed project! Who would have been blamed and held accountable?

On one hand, fire trucks, police, and other emergency vehicles and their personnel are exclusively and readily identified and recognized by and large by their uniforms and vehicles.

On the flip side, to the ordinary eye, V8 vehicles – especially black ones – that are the preferred mode of transportation by parliamentarians, ministers of state, and justices of the Supreme Court are symbols of government, power, and opulence and are detested by the average citizen who struggles to have a daily square meal.

Thus, onlookers and passersby may be more tolerant and understanding for a fire, police, or ambulance truck that accidentally hits a pedestrian in the course of their duties, than to a sirened and speeding V8 with occupants in civilian clothes.

We thought, and rightly so, that there was  no express need whatsoever to have exposed the other two arms of government without the appropriate and necessary security details. Fortunately, , the proposed legislation was nipped in the bud in the nick of time.  

Amandla did not know the circumstances under which the Ministry of Transport decided to accord these undue privileges. But we know it stunk to the core. We are still wondering aloud the number of parliamentarians who would have supported the legislation!  

Parliament should rather aim to consider efficient transportation and transit acts that would facilitate movement of goods and services such as dedicated HOV lanes, bike lanes, and walkways.

While at it, we must quickly point out that for political expediency, some laws are best enacted during lame duck sessions. It is just prudent to not consider and enact unpopular legislation less than six months from general and presidential elections.

Similarly, in contentious elections for non-sophisticated electorates such as in Ghana, it is equally unwise to implement some acts in an election year.

As we write, roadway hawkers along and in front of the Ministry of Defense have been chased away. These and other hawkers within the greater Accra area and beyond have been breadwinners for their families through hawking and jaywalking roadways without regards to safety.

But they will not forgive and will point accusation fingers at any government they consider taking their daily bread from their mouths.

No affected hawker will be glad to trot to a polling station to cast a vote for a government perceived to have taken away their daily bread. At least, voter apathy would take over.  

One important tool in politics is timing. Another is perception. Legislation may be as right as rain, but it may go south with the wrong timing and negative perception.   

At least, the shelved amendment to the Road Traffic Regulations Act 2012 is an indication of a listening government. And for that we say…ayekoo!