Even police officers are knocked down trying to control traffic - ACP David Eklu

Director-General of Public Affairs Directorate of the Ghana Police Service, ACP David Eklu has added his voice to the calls for immediate action to curb the high spate of deaths on the Madina-Adentan highway.

His concerns particularly border on the fact that personnel of the police service also are knocked down in the dispensation of their duties. While many have attributed the deaths to negligence and refusal on the part of government to do the needful and build a footbridge and provide traffic lights for the residents of the area, others have blamed the police service for failing to in the interim, provide personnel to direct traffic.

Speaking on the back of the issue, ACP Eklu revealed that police officers trying to control traffic on the Madina-Adentan-Aburi highway are also sometimes knocked down by vehicles.

He blamed the situation on engineering errors, calling for action to be taken.

“There is an engineering problem on this stretch of the road and from the indications, the authorities would have to act on it with dispatch,” he told GhanaWeb in an interview.

He said police officers have been stationed temporarily at some vantage points of the highway in order to direct traffic so that the frequent knock down of pedestrians is reduced.

“What we are doing now is position our officers at those traffic points and various intersections assisting pedestrians and asking motorists to slow down.”

“All those using this stretch of the road whether pedestrian or motorists should exercise extreme caution, obey traffic regulation until the intervention is done” he added.

Explaining why the police had to use warning shots, water cannons and tear gas to disperse the angry residents of Madina-Adentan burning tyres to register their protest over the frequent accidents on that part of the N4, ACP Eklu said the possibility of people taking advantage of it to attack others is very high therefore the police needed to disperse the crowd so that they can maintain order.

He said the officers who earlier responded to the calls of the residents over a vehicle knocking down a pedestrian were armed with AK47 rifles before calling the riots control officers for assistance.

“The first respondent must make sure that they maintain the situation and discourage the formation of crowds that can lead to violence and mayhem. If the police had not done that yesterday, you could not imagine the mayhem that could have caused” he said.

“Cars would have been burnt, people would have taken advantage of the situation to do whatever they wanted” he noted.

According to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, a 14-year-old boy, as a result, was injured, treated and discharged at the Nyaho Clinic in Accra.

He said anybody claiming that he was injured and had been neglected by the police should have been reported to the police either before seeking medical attention or after.

“If you sustain any injury as a result of what happened yesterday, you can report to the police then we will make follow up” he stated.

ACP Eklu further assured the residents that the police will be on the Madina-Adentan-Aburi highway to ensure that both motorists and pedestrians are safe but emphasized that the engineering aspect of the road should be looked at again.