Editorial
Check streetlights on Prof Atta-Mills High Street
Please permit me to use your medium to draw attention to some pressing issue. I usually drive past the Professor Atta-Mills High Street and the Independence Square in Accra but never does it occur to me that this stretch of the road poses a great danger to users with 20 dysfunctional streetlights along the stretch.
While that part of the capital city is very busy during the day, with a number of people going about their daily businesses, it’s very surprising to note that the monumental stretch that was named after the late President John Evans Atta-Mills is a dangerous area to walk at night.
Institutions such as the Bank of Ghana, the Supreme Court, the Kwame Nkrumah Museum, the National Lottery Authority, and the Volta River Authority are lined up on the stretch.
In the evenings, it becomes very rare to see anyone walking in the area as it poses a great threat to human lives at that time.
Unlike during the day where a lot of people walk through the streets, in its place in the evenings, there are only the sounds of vehicles.
On one of my usual routines on Thursday, September 2, 2021, from work, as I drove past the High Street, I observed that drivers did not stop at the traffic lights between the Accra Sports Stadium and Independence Square at night due to the pitch darkness.
Also, on the Law Complex Road, I witnessed gross driving indiscipline displayed by drivers who plied that route at night as they did not obey the traffic light regulations.
The only lights functioning on the Atta-Mills high street is at the Black Star Square roundabout – the Independence Arc, and the lights atthe buildings of the institutions earlier stated.
It is very sad to note how the Prof Atta-Mills High street, which is a tourist attraction, and which sits in the heart of the capital, is gradually growing into one of the most dangerous areas to walk or travel on at night.
Government must work hard to resolve this looming danger before people are robbed of their valuables and lives are lost.
I think government can use the three per cent levy charged all consumers of electricity for street lighting (which generated GH¢273.9million of revenue in 2018 and 2019) to ensure that the entire country is properly lit up at night.
Joseph Adamafio,
Student Ghana Institute of Journalism
Dear Editor,
I write to appeal to the Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMTL) to put some of their buses on the Kasoa–Circle route to ease the challenges passengers face every day.
It might interest you to know that going to and from Kasoa is no child’s play. Sadly, it appears we have been left to our fate and at the mercy of greedy ‘trotro’ drivers who employ various tactics to extort money from passengers.
One of the means they usually employ is that at the station, they’ll tell passengers they are not going to Kasoa. However, when you join these vehicles, they take passengers to a point and start calling for new passengers to a different destination. It continues like that until they reach Kasoa. At all the new stops, they collect fresh fares from passengers.
So, it is not true that they are not going to Kasoa — the only reason they do that is to take more money from passengers.
By this behaviour, one ends up spending about GH¢20 for a journey that should cost around GH¢11, and the same amount on the return trip.
This behaviour also results in long queues at the stations at night, giving robbers and pickpockets a field day as they mingle with passengers struggling for transport and end up stealing from them.
I want to plead with the Metro Mass management to put buses on this route to reduce the inconvenience we go through after a day’s work.
The management could also devise ways to make their operations more convenient and reliable, and must consider setting specific times so that passengers would know when buses arrive and when they depart.
Kwesi Pino
Kasoa
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Dear Editor,
I write with deep concern about a safety hazard and the dangers commuters are exposed to, especially those who walk in the area at night.
Along one of the busy roads in the capital — the Neoplan Station stretch of the ‘Accra Dubai’ road — lie several culverts with their metal coverings removed, leaving behind gaping holes that endanger everyone who uses the stretch.
It is a danger to commuters who walk around the area. As a regular visitor to that area, I find it very disturbing. In fact, a gaze into the drain can make one feel dizzy — it is very deep.
These are very common sights from the Railway Crossing area to the Awudome Cemetery area, bringing to the fore the activities of scrap dealers who are mostly blamed for the disappearance of the coverings.
They are dangerous and easy to miss. Children walking to school, the elderly, and even motorists risk serious injury if nothing is done.
This is not just a matter of inconvenience; it is a matter of life. We have seen too many cases where a simple oversight leads to irreversible harm.
A child could fall in. A motorcyclist could swerve and crash. A pedestrian could be injured in the dark. These are preventable tragedies, and we must treat them as urgent.
We cannot wait for disaster before we act. I urge the relevant authorities to inspect such areas, replace missing covers, and prioritise public safety. A simple fix today could save a life tomorrow. Let’s not look away — let’s fix what’s broken before it breaks someone.
Kelvin Acheampong
Dansoman
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