The Reverend Kennedy Okuson, former Chief of Staff of the Action Chapel International, has charged Ministers of the Gospel to use church platforms and the pulpit to sensitise members on the need to observe road safety regulations.
He called on the clergy, ministers, youth groups, and Sunday schools teachers to partner with road safety regulatory establishments to reduce road carnage saying“We must propagate safe road campaigns, advocate for better road infrastructure within the country through our pulpits”.
“Preach on adherence to road safety regulations, safe road practices through exemplary actions and brotherly conduct. Ministers of the Gospel must regulate the time for night time church events and live exemplary lives to reduce road crashes,” Rev. Okuson stated at the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office, and Tema Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) Road Safety campaign platform.
The GNA-Tema and MTTD Road Safety Project seeks to create consistent and systematic weekly awareness advocacy on the need to be cautious on the road as a user, educate all road users on their respective responsibilities, and sensitize drivers especially on the tenets of road safety regulations, rules and laws.
Rev. Okosun who is the Executive Chairman of Krif Ghana and Editor-In-Chief Krif Media (Integrity Magazine), appealed to Ministers of the Gospel to use the last five minutes of every preaching time to educate their congregation, on some of the causes of road carnage and how the church can help mitigate the problem.
Speaking on “The Ministers of the Gospels’ Role in Reducing Road Crashes,” Rev. Okuson said, in view of the impact of road accidents on the church community, the Clergy must be involve and use the pulpit and every church meeting to preach adherence to road traffic regulation.
“When Ministers stand before their congregation, they do not only attend to their spiritual needs, but also their physical needs.
“More often than not, pulpits across Ghana have been used to promote good sanitation, peaceful elections, and good environmental practices. ‘Why not Safe Road Practices and adherence to traffic regulation,” Rev. Okosun stated.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager, said that Ministers of the Gospel have a huge influence on their members, hence the need to rope them into the Road Safety Campaign.
“We are begging every Minister of the Gospel that anytime you mount the pulpit please just use two minutes of your time to talk about road safety. You will be saving your members from road crashes,” he said.
MrAmeyibor noted that the GNA Tema Regional Office is engaging Religious, Traditional, Political and Corporate Leaders as well to become Road Safety Ambassadors.
He said: “It is time to wake up and collectively make the road safe for all to use either as a driver, passenger, or pedestrian, we are all connected to the road”.
Accident data for the first half of the year in Tema Region alone indicates that out of a total of 637 road crashes 445 were private vehicles. In the first quarter out of 344 road crashes private vehicles recorded 248 and in the second quarter out of 293 crashes private vehicles recorded 197.
GNA
