Former President John Dramani Mahama, who is also the flagbearer for the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), announced through a Facebook post over the weekend that he was suspending his campaign activities in the Assin North Constituency in the Central Region for two hours, following the unfortunate death of one of the party sympathisers through a road accident.
“I have had to suspend my campaign in Assin North for about 2 hours this afternoon to visit injured sympathisers who were involved in an accident after our engagement at Dansame.
“Unfortunately, we lost one of our comrades who enthusiastically joined others to the programme; our condolences to her family.
I will be leading the party to visit the family of the deceased to commiserate with them,” he said in the Facebook post.
Earlier, The Chronicle had reported that a team of communicators of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), last Sunday, survived a near fatal road accident while returning to Assin Breku from a campaign event at Bedi Adua in the same Assin North Constituency.
According to the report, the incident occurred when the driver of the Mitsubishi pickup vehicle they were travelling on suddenly lost control in a sharp curve. The car, according to our information, somersaulted before it landed on its side and trapped all the occupants.
“Thank God none of us suffered any major or open cut injuries, so they quickly rushed us to the St. Francis Hospital at Assin Foso, where we were treated and discharged at about 10 pm the same day,” our report quoted the Effutu Constituency Communication Officer, Ellis Otabil, as saying.
The Chronicle commiserates with the family of the NDC sympathiser who died in the road crash whilst criss-crossing the Assin North Constituency to campaign for his party.
We also wish the NPP officials who were involved in an accident in the same constituency a speedy recovery.
The Chronicle is, however, not happy with the death and serious injuries that are always reported as a result of road crashes whenever there are general or by-elections.
It appears to us that during any of these elections, followers and sympathisers of the political parties throw caution to the winds and drive recklessly on our roads.
It is trite knowledge that during electioneering campaigns in Ghana, supporters of political parties, especially the NPP and NDC, are seen hanging dangerously on moving vehicles as if God has given them two lives so they can, therefore, play with one.
What has even worsened the situation is the emergence of motorbikes on our roads. The youth, during these political campaigns, ride with careless abandon.
Despite the serious injuries that are associated with reckless riding of motorbikes, the youth do not simply care. They allow their youthful exuberance to override their sense of judgement.
Interestingly, their political masters do not see the need to advise them (youth) anytime they start exhibiting these reckless conducts on our roads, all in the name of campaigning for their respective political parties.
The Chronicle is not making any conclusive statements that the two accidents that occurred in Assin North were a result of reckless driving.
As a matter of fact, we do not have any evidence to substantiate the claim, if that is the inference we are trying to make. We are only situating the issue in a larger context of recklessness that are always exhibited on our roads during political party campaigns.
This is a serious canker that we, as a nation, must come together to eliminate from our society.
We are, therefore, calling on the political parties to talk to their massive followers to observe road safety regulations, especially during the periods of political campaigns.
It is our contention that if this is done, it will go a long way to curb the rampant road crashes that are recorded.
