Areas of life that influence people’s welfare and wellbeing are many except that some people gloss over some of them and do not even consider them as existing or important.
In the modern society, research has become the tool to call attention to things, including unimaginable ones.
Have you ever imagined that there is a research on why we sometimes laugh during inappropriate times such as sorrowful situations that call for crying or appearing morose?
The finding is fantastic and it is the fact that there is a type of emotion regulation at work.
However we may consider certain research undertakings to be, absurd or otherwise, their findings can help solve problems.
That is why we welcome a survey to be conducted by the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLGDRD) to procure sustainable and efficient data to inform policy in the transportation sector.
Under the Ghana Urban Mobility and Accessibility Project (GUMAP) and being undertaken with support from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the Household Travel Survey will commence on July 24, 2023 and run till September 30, 2023.
It is expected to cover 7,500 households across diverse communities within the 29 Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) in Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) and peri-urban areas like Nsawam/Adoagyiri and Awutu Senya East.
Respondents will include members of households aged six years and above and the findings are expected to help offer solutions to the transportation needs of the selected areas.
We think the selected areas for the survey are appropriate because these are places where travel is less pleasurable because of gridlocks and attendant discomfort like sweating in traffic and inhaling carbon monoxide from vehicles.
These are also areas where commuters struggle for vehicles, particularly in the mornings to go to work and in the evenings to return home, and sometimes fall victim to thieves who steal their money, mobile phones and bags.
It is everyone’s expectation that the research would take place as planned and everything done to make it successful.
Also, we expect that the findings will be utilised as envisaged.
We say this because there are talks of a good number of findings of research works in the country gathering dust in spite of the money spent on them and the recommendations meant to advance development and human progress.
Even though the MLGDRD is yet to begin its survey and come out with its findings, it has reiterated the need to take survey and other research works seriously for improvement of life in the country.
We hope this will prompt the government and other stakeholders to strongly reconsider the importance of research into all sectors of the economy, including areas like why people continue to disregard the law, knowing that lawlessness is punishable.
We wish the MLGDRD well in the Household Travel Survey and promise that we are ready to be part of all its campaigns to inform the public about its efforts in nation building.
