The ugly road to NRSC

By Kofi Akordor
IT is always a privilege to be offered an opportunity to serve the public in any capacity deemed fit. It even becomes more exciting and thrilling when you realise that a chance to make a contribution to something you are very passionate about is virtually falling on your lap.
We know road safety has assumed a major national concern for obvious reasons. Road accident figures and the number of human lives lost on a daily basis have drawn attention and concern from many individuals and organisations, including corporate institutions, which have demonstrated this in many ways, including the sponsorship of many road safety educational programmes.
This column has not been silent on this national menace and the near impotence of the major state institutions such as the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) and the transport unions to make an impact on the fight against recklessness on the roads.
We have also come to realise that commitment and due diligence are expected from the DVLA, which is tasked to ensure that only roadworthy vehicles are permitted on the roads.
The same organisation is to ensure that only persons who have undergone full training and been tested accordingly are licensed to drive vehicles in the country.
The MTTU, on the other hand, is expected to enforce road traffic regulations to the letter to ensure that motorists conduct themselves properly on the roads, as per motor traffic regulations, and also ensure that vehicles plying the roads meet all the standards prescribed by law.
Between these two institutions, there are bound to be lapses, due either to administrative or institutional deficiencies such as poor logistics, which is one of our major problems, or the human factor, such as corrupt practices which all contribute to infringe upon road safety in the country.
This makes the work of the NRSC more difficult, as it must continue to spread and sustain its crusade on road safety in a vigorous and regular manner. In other words, packaging the right information for effective public education using the most appropriate communication channels constitute a major battle against the carnage on the roads.
I believe this might have informed the authorities to wisely decide that the media should be a key partner in the activities of the NRSC, so that apart from the professional inputs of the media in the design and implementation of public education programmes, the voice of the commission will be made louder and clearer on all platforms throughout the country.
Under the circumstances, it can be inferred that the institutional representation of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on the board of the NRSC cannot be said to be a luxury nor an act of charity but a purposeful national necessity because we do not know of any other effective way reaching the public with education material apart from through the mass media.
Unfortunately, almost three years into the tenure of the current board of the NRSC, whether it is because of the usual bureaucracy and red-tapeism or one of those administrative lapses associated with our public service system, the GJA representative has not been sworn in to perform his statutory role on the board.
Some time in 2009, this writer was informed by the President of the GJA that he (the writer) had been nominated to represent the GJA on the NRSC board, and that to facilitate the nomination he had to submit a curriculum vitae (CV).
This was done, and according to the GJA President, the CV was forwarded to the appropriate quarters through the general secretary of the GJA.
After more than six months of waiting without any response, the GJA Secretariat was informed, during enquiries, that the first letter forwarding my name and accompanying documents might have been misdirected to the wrong place so a fresh one should be forwarded to the Ministry of Transport. That was delivered personally by this writer.
After another long wait, the GJA made another attempt — the third one — to find out what was still obstructing its nominee from representing the association on the NRSC board. Once again, no one could tell where the problem was and so another process had to be initiated. This time, this writer was given an e-mail address to forward his resume. Only God knows what it takes to serve on the NRSC board.
It has been three months since and no response has been received as to whether the latest submission has reached the appropriate quarters or, as was the case in the past, it got lost during transmission.
Even though this is not entirely strange to me, knowing how we approach important national affairs, this experience has left a sour taste in my mouth. What should have taken a few days, or even a week or two, is in the third year and there seems to be no solution in sight.
The executives of the GJA expect me to give periodic briefings on my performance on the NRSC board and each time I tell them I am still waiting for a letter confirming my membership of the board.
A successful road safety campaign hinges on a powerful and sustainable media participation. But, here we are, there has been no GJA representative on the NRSC board since 2009, not because as a professional body we did not try.
One would have thought that it would be somebody’s responsibility to make sure that the NRSC functions at full strength. In other words, all the institutions that were chosen for strategic reasons to be represented on the NRSC board would be seen to be actively participating in the affairs of the commission and collectively achieving the set objectives whose ultimate aim is to ensure sanity on the roads.
Some of us are playing and will continue to play our little roles outside the NRSC in the direction of road safety. But if institutional representation on the NRSC board is not a farce but a serious national proposition, then somebody or some people somewhere have pulled a fast one on the GJA. They have made mockery of the calls on the media to be active partners in the pursuit of the better Ghana agenda, since, in this case, from all indications they have denied the media our legitimate place on the NRSC and in effect reduced our input into road safety matters in the country.
I wish readers a peaceful and accident-free Christmas and a prosperous New Year in a advance.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com