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Be cautious to prevent accidents during and after the festive seasons- Drivers advised
Drivers in the country have been advised to be cautious on the road and exercise due diligence while driving to help prevent accidents during and after the festive seasons.
The Corporate Communications Manager of Vivo Energy, Shirley Tony Kum who gave the advice, said it was necessary they drove with diligence to help reduce the many accidents on the roads.
She stated that it was unfortunate that many of the drivers do not have first aid kits in their vehicles, let alone not having to apply medical care to passengers during accidents or emergencies and reiterated the need to have such basic kits coupled with due diligence to ensure their own safety and that of passengers.
Mrs Shirley Tony Kum gave the advice at the launch of the 2023 Stop, Think and Drive Road Safety campaign initiated by Vivo Energy in collaboration with the National Roads Safety Authority and Transporters in Koforidua on Wednesday.
The launch of the campaign was aimed at building the capacity of motorists to improve road user behaviour and reduce the risks of involvement in road accidents.
As part of the campaign, participants were taken through a refresher defensive driving training course and were equipped with basic first aid skills in administering medical care to passengers during accidents or in case of emergencies.
Mrs Shirley Tony Kum revealed that provisional statistics from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service indicated that Road Traffic Crashes, Injuries and Deaths (CID) saw a consistent month-on-month reduction in 2022 ending the year with 14, 960 crashes, 15, 690 Injuries and 2,373.
“Deaths representing 7.55%, 1.54% and 20.11% reductions respectively, compared to the year 2021,” she added.
She believed that the initiative has contributed significantly to the reduction in the observed CIDs and should be sustained, hence the launch in the Koforidua to train more drivers.
The Corporate Communications Manager advised the drivers to be careful on the roads and drive with caution to ensure their safety and that of their passengers.
The Eastern Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Nana Akua Ansaah Cobbinah said research has shown that most road accidents and their associated fatalities were caused by human error, poor mechanical maintenance, bad road and bad weather conditions.
She again noted that 96 per cent of accidents were caused by human error, and reiterated the need to educate drivers on road safety to urge them to obey road traffic rules as well as ensure that they drive safely.
“We have also educated the drivers on maintaining their vehicles so that they will be for use,” she said and added that training would impact knowledge on road safety issues to enable them to drive well during and after the festive season.
The Principal Industrial Relations Officer at the GPRTU in the Eastern Region, Alhaji Salifu Alhassan said one of the causes of road accidents in the region was bad roads and therefore appealed to the government to expedite action on roads which were under construction, adding that due to the bad nature of road, drivers have to resort to alternative roads making driving difficult.
He stated that the festive season was the time drivers conveyed more passengers to their various destinations and added that the training would make them more cautious on the roads.
From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua
Picture Caption
The drivers being sensitised by the Eastern Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Nana Akua Ansaah Cobbinah
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Focus on more pressing issues like Galamsey, not hate speech – Ellen Ama Daaku to Mahama
An aide to former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia,Ellen Ama Daaku has advised President John Dramani Mahama to shift his attention from social media hate speech to more urgent national issues such as illegal mining.
Speaking in an interview, she noted that the President’s recent comments about tracking the IP addresses of people who spread hate speech were unnecessary.
According to her, President Mahama must first define what he considers to be hate speech before seeking to punish people for it.
Ms. Daaku argued that the President himself had benefitted from hate speech and social media attacks in the past when he was in opposition.
She said even during his time in government, he described his opponents and their tribesmen in unpalatable terms, which later drew complaints from former President Nana Akufo-Addo to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
She stressed that harsh criticism of leaders on social media should not automatically be considered hate speech, adding that former leaders, including former President Nana Akufo-Addo had all been subjected to it.
“He is only feeling what Nana Akufo-Addo went through for eight years,” she remarked.
While acknowledging the need to regulate misconduct online, Ms. Daaku insisted that going after social media activists should not be a priority.
She noted that many political activists, including herself, had been insulted and attacked online but never called for arrests.
She concluded that President Mahama should focus his energy on solving pressing problems such as galamsey and the economy instead of concentrating on critics on social media.
By: Jacob Aggrey
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Prof Alidu Seidu files nomination for Tamale Central seat
The newly elected parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for Tamale Central, Prof Alidu Seidu, has submitted his nomination forms to the Electoral Commission.
As of 10:00 a.m. today, he was the only person who had filed to contest the seat.
Nomination of candidates will close at the end of the day.
Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at the University of Ghana Legon, Prof. Alidu Seidu won the National Democratic Congress (NDC) parliamentary primaries in the Tamale Central constituency with a landslide victory.
The elections, supervised by the party’s Elections and IT Directorate in the Northern Region, saw Prof. Seidu poll 840 votes out of the total valid ballots cast.
His closest contender, Lawyer Hanan Gundadow Abdul-Rahaman, secured 536 votes.
The other aspirants could not make significant gains, with Dr. Seidu Fiter obtaining 44 votes, Aliu Abdul-Hamid 23 votes, and the rest recording fewer than 10 votes each.
In all, 1,500 ballots were cast, with 6 ballots rejected and 7 spoilt ballots recorded.
The results were signed and declared by Dr. Arnold Mashud Abukari, NDC Northern Regional Director of Elections and IT.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) held parliamentary primaries in Tamale Central to choose a candidate for the upcoming by-election following the death of the sitting Member of Parliament, Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed. Dr. Mohammed, who also served as Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, tragically died in a military helicopter crash in the Adansi Akrofuom District on August 6, 2025, alongside seven others.
His passing left the Tamale Central seat vacant, as required by Ghana’s 1992 Constitution.
The Electoral Commission has scheduled the by-election for September 30, 2025. While the NDC moved quickly to open nominations and vet aspirants, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) announced it would not contest the seat, citing the need to respect the somber circumstances and promote national unity.
By: Jacob Aggrey
