A glimpse of some parts of Accra at night
• A tour around some major areas in the city revealed a lot
• It exposes several lapses in the system that need to be fixed
• This was confirmed by some residents who interacted with GhanaWeb’s Wonder Ami Hagan
Nightlife in Accra is everything but dull.
It is the peak time for some businesses which take in people who may be tired from the day and may want to relax.
In Accra, at night, you’ll still see hawkers selling their wares, you would see people travelling to and from work in commercial or private vehicles, among a host of other activities.
It’s obvious movement is still very active at night in Accra, at least to some degree but the question is, how safe is it to move around this time?
A very important question that begs for answers.
So GhanaWeb’s Road Safety campaign team set out to tour some major streets of Accra to see how it looks out there.
We started at the Legon bypass on the GIMPA stretch, through to Madina, through the Tema Motorway and then the Teshie-Labadi area, all through the Accra high street area, to Achimota and then finally to Ofankor.
The results were shocking.
Complete darkness! That’s all you see.
Some of these streets were lined with mounted streetlights but with no light and others didn’t have any streetlight structures in sight.
Robberies have been massive on some of these stretches, particularly on the GIMPA and Achimota Hospital stretch.
The bushes on the sides of the roads make it easier for people to ambush commuters at night.
There have been many complaints but it appears little to nothing is being done about the situation, instead, many other areas which previously had light are gradually joining the fray.
Recent statistics from January to April show that about 1034 people have died from accidents, from a total of over 5,000 people who have been involved in accidents over the period.
It was scary at points driving through certain areas in a city that serves as one of Ghana’s major tourist destinations at night.
Even more scary it was, knowing that statistics have proven over time, that most of the carnages that happen on Ghana’s roads happen at night.
In a recent interview with one of our key partners, Head of the Emergency and Accident Unit at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Frederick Kwarteng revealed that most accidents that come to the hospital happen at night.
“What we have noticed is that, most of the accidents that are brought in here with very bad situations, majority of them are brought in at night,” he said.
Join Wonder Ami Hagan and the team on this tour and find out what we discovered and heard from some residents of the various areas who shared their experiences and concerns.
About GhanaWeb Road Safety Campaign:
The GhanaWeb Road Safety Campaign forms a part of the numerous projects GhanaWeb has rolled out as part of its 22nd-anniversary celebrations.
The year-long campaign dubbed #GhanaWebRoadSafety took off on Monday, March 1, 2021, and will focus on three key areas: indiscipline on roads; bad roads, and potholes that contribute to road accidents and absence of streetlights.
The campaign is being executed in partnership with major stakeholders including the Ghana Road Safety Commission, the Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, Ghana Highway Authority, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the Ghana Fire Service, the Ghana National Ambulance Service and the Drivers and Vehicle Licensing Authority.
The campaign is also spearheaded by musician and politician Bice Osei Kuffour (Obour) as the Ambassador.
Meanwhile, GhanaWeb among other things will, throughout the year, embark on media tours, organise special awards and recognition, embark on corporate social responsibility activities as part of its 22nd-anniversary celebration which was officially launched in Accra on February 15, 2021.