The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Osei Assibey Antwi, has called on various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to take steps towards educating transport operators on road safety.
The Kumasi Mayor was speaking on the sidelines of a virtual meeting between the KMA and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety to launch a road safety education initiative.
According to data from the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police service, over 2,000 deaths have been recorded annually due to road accidents in the last few years.
“If you want to have a healthy and safe city, the most important thing that confronts us is our roads- that is, how do we ensure road safety? We can achieve road safety when the drivers are well educated and trained and the roads that they are using are also well designed.”
“That is why today, we are virtually launching a project between our international partners for that of Greater Kumasi. Our international partners are going to give us technical support, ideas, and funding towards bringing the best out of this city with this six years project.”
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety on Wednesday, July 1, 2020, held a kick-off meeting marking the official start of six years of support toward the prevention of road traffic crashes in Ghana’s second-largest city and capital of the Ashanti Region; Kumasi.
The initiative will pay particular attention to the prevention of crashes that lead to injuries and loss of life.
The virtual kick-off meeting included the participation of the Mayor of Kumasi, Mayor Osei Assibey-Antwi, Metro Coordinating Director for KMA, Akuamoah Boateng together with six other Municipal Chief Executives from various municipalities within the city of Kumasi.
Representatives from the Bloomberg Philanthropies health team, Kelly Larson and Becky Bavinger, and other partner organizations who are now officially supporting work in the City of Kumasi also participated in this virtual meeting.
With support from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), the city of Kumasi now has a team of specialized technicians, in addition to an international network of organizations, which support the work of the municipal government in improving data management, infrastructure, inspection, enforcement and communication.
The partners will offer technical and financial support to the city to implement strategies proven to be effective in preventing road traffic deaths and injuries, in line with the best international practices in the area.
Among them are the World Health Organization, Vital Strategies, Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP), World Resource Institute (WRI), Johns Hopkins University International Injury Research and Country Level Partners (GHAI/WB/WHO).