Public Agenda (Accra)
Ghana: Beware of These Death Traps!
By Patrice Kodjo Amegadzie, 13 August 2012opinion
"Gone too soon", "What a shock!" are some of
the common expressions which the Ghanaian has come to associate with
posters of deceased persons.
In this country, undertakers and wreath makers are one category of workers who make so much money out of the dead and yet many of them are outside the tax net of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). We, however, recognise the few law abiding ones among them who pay their taxes whenever due. We are equally not oblivious of the fact that they pay indirect taxes through their personal purchases.
Let us all be true to ourselves and reflect over this question: would you want to die in the most untrendy fashion such as being knocked down by a car, thus departing without saying adieu or chipping in a word of caution to your children and loved ones or dying intestate without guaranteeing the comfort of your spouse and children? Some of these untimely deaths may occur at the zebra crossing. When you least expect it, that is when the unexpected happens. Hence, decisiveness is a vital rule for all road users, particularly pedestrians.
Zebra crossings derive their names from their resemblance to the white and black patterns on the body of the horse-like specie called zebras. Regrettably, with time many of beautiful looking zebra crossings, inspiring pride in the national psyche begin to fade and it appears no one cares about their restoration. On certain occasions, some reckless drivers even knock down pedestrians right on conspicuous zebra crossings.
The zebra crossing on the Ring Road near the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is gradually becoming a death trap, considering the manner some of these drivers speed up when they get to that spot. This compels pedestrians who cherish their lives to do a bravery stunt at the zebra crossing - run across it - while the appropriate thing to do is to walk across briskly. I think it is important to mount Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at this "death trap". Besides, I think the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has to intensify its educational programmes on zebra crossings in general on all relevant mass media of communication.
Peaking high up in the skies, with some trying to compete with the skyscrapers in Western Europe, are some of the sleek, ill-framed billboards soaring by our roads. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Advertisers Association of Ghana (AAG) must ensure that mounted billboards are strong and well fitted to withstand storms during rains.
It is rather worrying to see many of the billboards damaged or broken down completely after heavy rains. The recent downpour in Accra saw a lot of these billboards wrecking the windscreens of vehicles, causing vehicular traffic, among others. Simply there are mere death traps. Curiously, the new trend about these billboards is that they are being mounted on single pivots with screws at their bases while their main structures are configured using a chain-stretch of low alloyed steels, mainly aluminum, rising high in the sky. However, the standard method for erecting billboards is fixing them into a four-square concrete structure.
The obvious questions which come to mind are: who sees to the engineering of these structures? Who is responsible for the granting permit for the siting of billboards? Certified stickers on these publicity structures should be legible to the public.
What do you like about Ghana? Worldwide, our hospitality has propelled us to fame, but this does not reflect in our hygienic practices. In fact our hygienic habits tend to whittle down our favourable image. Fancy the stench that emanates from many of the drains by which some of our ?neat? food vendors display our favourite delicacies such as fried "infested" rice? Interestingly, some of these vendors pick up food items from glass crafted sieves with tongs, but what is lost on many of us is the fact that the vendors arrange the array of food sold with their bare hands.
Again, we sometimes sneeze or cough directly into our palms, then go ahead and greet others, hence spreading communicable diseases. Such habits have become real death traps athat must be stopped.
I can only express my thoughts in words, but you may have a voice to bring to order the institutions responsible for the supervision of activities related to the issues raised. All of us, collectively, have either moral or legal obligations to work towards freeing our society from the aforementioned death traps. A word to a wise, is said to be enough.
In this country, undertakers and wreath makers are one category of workers who make so much money out of the dead and yet many of them are outside the tax net of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). We, however, recognise the few law abiding ones among them who pay their taxes whenever due. We are equally not oblivious of the fact that they pay indirect taxes through their personal purchases.
Let us all be true to ourselves and reflect over this question: would you want to die in the most untrendy fashion such as being knocked down by a car, thus departing without saying adieu or chipping in a word of caution to your children and loved ones or dying intestate without guaranteeing the comfort of your spouse and children? Some of these untimely deaths may occur at the zebra crossing. When you least expect it, that is when the unexpected happens. Hence, decisiveness is a vital rule for all road users, particularly pedestrians.
Zebra crossings derive their names from their resemblance to the white and black patterns on the body of the horse-like specie called zebras. Regrettably, with time many of beautiful looking zebra crossings, inspiring pride in the national psyche begin to fade and it appears no one cares about their restoration. On certain occasions, some reckless drivers even knock down pedestrians right on conspicuous zebra crossings.
The zebra crossing on the Ring Road near the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) is gradually becoming a death trap, considering the manner some of these drivers speed up when they get to that spot. This compels pedestrians who cherish their lives to do a bravery stunt at the zebra crossing - run across it - while the appropriate thing to do is to walk across briskly. I think it is important to mount Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras at this "death trap". Besides, I think the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has to intensify its educational programmes on zebra crossings in general on all relevant mass media of communication.
Peaking high up in the skies, with some trying to compete with the skyscrapers in Western Europe, are some of the sleek, ill-framed billboards soaring by our roads. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) and the Advertisers Association of Ghana (AAG) must ensure that mounted billboards are strong and well fitted to withstand storms during rains.
It is rather worrying to see many of the billboards damaged or broken down completely after heavy rains. The recent downpour in Accra saw a lot of these billboards wrecking the windscreens of vehicles, causing vehicular traffic, among others. Simply there are mere death traps. Curiously, the new trend about these billboards is that they are being mounted on single pivots with screws at their bases while their main structures are configured using a chain-stretch of low alloyed steels, mainly aluminum, rising high in the sky. However, the standard method for erecting billboards is fixing them into a four-square concrete structure.
The obvious questions which come to mind are: who sees to the engineering of these structures? Who is responsible for the granting permit for the siting of billboards? Certified stickers on these publicity structures should be legible to the public.
What do you like about Ghana? Worldwide, our hospitality has propelled us to fame, but this does not reflect in our hygienic practices. In fact our hygienic habits tend to whittle down our favourable image. Fancy the stench that emanates from many of the drains by which some of our ?neat? food vendors display our favourite delicacies such as fried "infested" rice? Interestingly, some of these vendors pick up food items from glass crafted sieves with tongs, but what is lost on many of us is the fact that the vendors arrange the array of food sold with their bare hands.
Again, we sometimes sneeze or cough directly into our palms, then go ahead and greet others, hence spreading communicable diseases. Such habits have become real death traps athat must be stopped.
I can only express my thoughts in words, but you may have a voice to bring to order the institutions responsible for the supervision of activities related to the issues raised. All of us, collectively, have either moral or legal obligations to work towards freeing our society from the aforementioned death traps. A word to a wise, is said to be enough.
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