William N-Lanjerborr Jalulah
10 July 2009
opinion
IF YOU are a native or ever stayed in the Upper East Region, then you will appreciate the enormous economic and agricultural benefits of donkeys to owners of these multi-purpose animals.
Donkeys, also known as the 'Beast of Burden,' are the number one means of carting farm produce from the farms to the homes or market centres after harvest. They are also used to plough farm lands for any major crops grown in the region, e.g. rice, millet, groundnuts, and beans. Also, in instances where there is water crisis, these domestic animals are again used to draw water from streams, rivers or wells.
However, the dangers these animals pose to other road users in the region, especially in the night, seems to have been ignored for far too long, though people have lost their lives as a result of that.
For some time now, the Upper East File has observed that donkey carts are not embossed with reflectors to serve as warning signs to other road users, especially in the night, or when the weather is gloomy.
As if to make the situation worse, mostly, donkey carts are operated by children who are inexperienced, and do not have the strength to control the animals, thereby allowing them to stray into the middle of the road, whether in the day or night.
This correspondent has witnessed several scenes when bicycle and motorbike riders have either collided head-on with donkey carts, or hit them from behind, resulting in casualties.
But for God's intervention, this correspondent would have also been a victim of this scenario, when one day he nearly ran into a donkey cart with a motorbike on the Sandema-Navrongo road, because it was in the night and no reflectors were embossed on these donkey carts.
The situation is even made more serious when the carts are loaded with woods, or protruding objects/materials which cannot be seen from afar by other road users.
When the Upper East File contacted the Regional Coordinator of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), Mr. Alexander Ayatah, to find out whether or not his office was aware of the situation, and what measures were being put in place to curb the trend, he answered in the affirmative, and he described the behaviour of owners of donkey carts as highly undisciplined, and said efforts were being made to ensure that they embossed their carts with reflectors.
He cautioned that owners of donkey carts would be held responsible should anything happen to any road user, as a result of their refusal to emboss the carts with reflectors.
Mr. Ayatah was also concerned about the way and manner in which other domestic animals such as pigs, cows, sheep, and goats were allowed to stray in the centre of the towns, crossing roads and causing accidents.
This, he said, had led to a number of people breaking their legs, as they ran their motorbikes into such straying animals. So, the Regional Office of the National Road Safety Commission, and its collaborators like the Motor Traffic Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, would have to enforce the law that would strictly compel owners of donkey carts to emboss reflectors on their carts.
The Upper East File is cautioning all road users of some the major roads in the region, to be extra careful when plying these roads, especially on market days and in the night.
If you are in the region, please beware of donkey carts - from village 'A' to 'Z' and Town 'A' to 'Z' - even if the law is enforced to curb the trend.
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