GBC

For about two years now, the entire World has been bombarded with ‘Brexit’. Indeed, it has virtually become a household word. It is all about Britain’s decision to leave the 28-member European Union, EU which the Kingdom has been a member since 1973. With its inability to clinch a deal as required by law to leave by the 29th of last March, Britain has come face to face with the most political turmoil in recent times. The country is now faced with imbalanced political decision, sharp national division and very bleak future as whether to continue to be a member of the EU or to go solo on the European continent by way of economic and political endeavours. The 2008 financial crises that hit Europe created huge migration challenges. A situation, which resulted in an intra-EU migration of which, Britain was and still being the biggest recipient of migrants. Huge number of EU citizens migrated to the UK giving it huge migration issues which infuriated the citizenry. Many Brits were of the v…

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwasi Amoako Attah recently implored all Ministers of State as well as men and women in top positions to pay road tolls to encourage other road users to do same. He revealed that apart from a few state personalities exempted from paying the road tolls, everyone including ministers and managing directors of companies are required to pay road tolls. However, the situation is different as a lot of people by virtue of their status in society are not honoring their road toll obligations to the state. The stand taken by the Roads and Highways Minister is very laudable because if Ministers and senior public officials who travel across the nation frequently accept to pay road tolls, it will help to increase money into the Road Fund and serve as example for ordinary road users to emulate. The Road Fund needs a lot of money to complement government’s annual road budget for construction and maintenance of roads across the country. It is in light of this that …

Accidents have been a regular phenomenon on the country’s roads. Infact, the regularity of their occurrence may have compelled some to treat them as ‘business as usual.’ Unfortunate as this may be, it must be stated in no uncertain terms that if such an attitude is allowed to continue, sooner or later the country’s human resource may drastically be lost to needless deaths through road accidents. Last Friday’s horrific road crashes in Kintampo in the Bono East Region and Ekumfi Dunkwa in the Central Region do not deserve the ‘business as usual’ tag. Indeed, transport watchers and commentators have been quick to add the ‘day’ to all the ‘dark Days’ of the country because of the horrific nature of the accidents. The June 3 flood disaster in Accra was a dark ‘day’ in the annals of the country’s history. And so was the May 9 stadium disaster. There have been similar dark spots in the history of the country but to see almost 60 persons perish on the spot at Kintampo through an avoidable ac…

The nation is again mourning scores of citizens who lost their lives through another gory road carnage last Friday. Many have been maimed for life while children of the deceased have been left orphaned and spouses widowed. Breadwinners are gone and families devastated. It is about time the nation considered the numerous lives lost on daily basis on our roads as a national disaster. Stakeholders need to find lasting solutions to this canker. How can more than sixty persons die within a day without any serious action. Ghanaians must not tolerate the “business as usual” attitude of our leaders. One wonders what actually is wrong with our road transport that cannot be fixed. Though the Ministries of Roads and Highways and Transport and other agencies such as the Ghana Road Safety Commission, MTTD of the Ghana Police Service and Transport Unions are working hard to curb the carnage on the roads, the situation appears to be worsening. It is essential for these institutions to change their …

Friday, the 22nd of March this year will go into the record books of Ghana as one of the saddest and gloomy Days. Over 65 souls perished through a road accident, which occurred on the Techiman-Kintampo highway in the early hours of that fateful Friday. A year ago, similar accident involving a speeding Toyota Corolla occurred at the same place in which nine people lost their lives. In all these, words of sympathy and condemnation have been issued by well-meaning Ghanaians. It is needless to state that road crashes are becoming increasingly alarming and scary. Travelling on the roads in the country has become more hazardous than ever. Road accidents in the country continue to increase rather than declining. According to statistics, the country sadly recorded 2,341 people killed in 2018 in road accidents, 795 of whom were pedestrians. In Ghana, there are a number of factors, that contribute to road accidents. The commonly known factors are human error, the state of the road and the stat…

The International Day of Happiness is celebrated worldwide on the 20th of March every year. It was conceptualised and founded by philanthropist, activist, statesman, and prominent United Nations special advisor Jayme Illien to inspire, mobilise, and advance the global happiness movement. The International Day of Happiness was established in 2012, when all 193 Member states adopted UN resolution 66/281 on the Day. The first International Day of Happiness was celebrated in 2013. The UN resolution recognised happiness as a “fundamental human goal” and called for “a more inclusive, equitable and balanced approach to economic growth that promotes the happiness and well-being of all peoples”. In 2011, Mr. Illien brought the idea and concept of creating a new global day of awareness, the International Day of Happiness, to senior United Nations Officials. Mr. Illien successfully campaigned to unite a global coalition of all 193 United Nations member states, and secured the endorsement of the…