President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has expressed the state’s condolence to the families of the victims of the horrific accident on the Kintampo-Tamale highway yesterday that claimed 70 lives.
“May the Almighty grant their souls peaceful rest,” the President said when he delivered an address at the annual West African Security Service Activities (WASSA) get-together of the Ghana Police Service.
Two buses carrying passengers collided at Amoma new Kintampo in the Bono East Region. It is unclear what might have caused the collision.
According to media reports, the accident involved a VVIP Kia bus with registration number GT3915-17 from Garu in the Upper East Region heading towards Kumasi and a Grand Bird bus with registration number GT 5694-18 from Accra heading to Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region.
Most of the victims were burnt beyond recognition when one of the buses went up in flames soon after the crash.
President Akufo-Addo said an inter-ministerial committee composed of the Minsters of the Interior, Roads and Highways and Transport was established last year to examine and propose measures to deal with the carnages on roads.
The committee, he added, had completed its work and had made some recommendations to be implemented by the police administration.
“The recommendations must be speedily outdoored and acted upon as soon as possible,” he said and urged all stakeholders involved in the implementation of the recommendation to treat it with urgency.
President Akufo-Addo expressed the government’s commitment to resource the police, including those responsible for enforcing road regulations, to make citizens safe.
He said the issue of law and order was germane, especially due to reports of murder, kidnaping, assaults, among others, threatening the rule of law.
“Government will work with the police to guarantee the safety of citizens and enforce the rule of law,” he said and promised to resource the police to enable them protect lives and properties.
He announced plans to establish a National Detective Training Academy in Kenyasi No. 1 like the FBI training academy in the United States to train more detectives.
Also, he said 320 housing units were being constructed for the police and indicated that plans were underway for the recruitment of 4,000 personnel into the service.
President Akufo-Addo said in addition to the vehicles for the police, the government was in the process of procuring three helicopters to facilitate the operations of the police.
He touched on the welfare of the police officers and gave the assurance that “the era where officers are not being promoted for more than four years is over”.
He said under his administration, tens of thousands of police officers had been promoted and indicated that once an officer was due for promotion, he or she would be promoted.
The Inspector-General of Police, David Asante-Apeatu, said the police administration would continue to roll out staff-centred policies to make the officers competent, professional and motivated.
He thanked the government for supporting the police administration to clear the backlog of promotion in the police service.
By Anita Nyarko-Yirenkyi and Yaw Kyei
