The Transport Minister, Dzifa Attivor has remarked that it is of vital importance for Ghana to bring sanity into its public transportation system to correspond with the growth in the economy.
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Transport minister calls for sanity on roads
The Ghana Committed Drivers Association claims the activities of the Driver and Vehicular Licensing Authority (DVLA) is frustrating their business, hence their decision to protest.
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Her comments came in the wake of a decision by commercial drivers to protest the new licensing policy by the Driver and Vehicular Licensing Authority (DVLA).
Last year, the DVLA served a notice that it would no longer register commercial vehicles with no seat belts for passengers. The acting Chief Executive, Rudolph Beckley explained that the new directive is in conformity with Section 119 of the Road Traffic Regulation Legislative Instrument (LI) 2180 which will help achieve a 50 percent reduction in deaths and serious injuries associated with vehicular accidents by 2020.
According to the chairman of the association, Charles Mensah, the DVLA’s decision not to register commercial vehicles with no seat belts for passengers is unacceptable.
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But the Transport Minister has indicated that the steps being taken by the DVLA is to protect the lives of drivers and their passengers.
“If we say we are a lower middle income country, we must improve upon our public transport system. Our economy is growing, if we are not careful, this will bring the city to a halt and we will not even be able to move. When we are growing, we have to adopt certain actions that will lead to the overall benefit of the economy. We need to put some sanity on our roads…we need to put some sanity in the system. So they have to understand us. If they have their concerns they should come to us”, she argued on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News.
Dzifa Attivor however dismissed claims that the drivers embarked on the strike because the DVLA failed to consult the leadership of the various driver unions before the new policy was rolled out saying, “the DVLA and Road Safety have engaged the GPRTU on the new computerized system…I know a lot of discussions went on. They went on to meet drivers at the union level. So maybe because they are not a recognized body under the GPRTU system that is why they did not get the chance to meet the DVLA. Maybe, it could be the reason.”
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