At first site, they are working out of sympathy for the injured.<\/p>\n
Picture it; they are collecting fresh leaves to cover the dead if there are any. They are calling the police to inform them of the incident. They are calling Fire Service and Ambulance Services to come to the scene.<\/p>\n
Some are administering instinctive first aid techniques. Out of pulse, others are putting survivors in taxis or available cars and rushed to nearby health facilities.<\/p>\n
At this stage, personal belongings of victims don\u2019t matter. \u201cWe are talking about life here, and you are saying what?\u201d<\/p>\n
They continue. They assist clear road if crashed car(s) are in the middle of road. They later provide eyewitness accounts to safety officers when they asked.<\/p>\n
Who are these people? They are each of us\u2019 immediate emergency life jackets! No! They are more! They are temporal situational thieves!<\/p>\n
Have you provided emergency assistance at any accident scene before? What did you do to the mobile phones, the hand bags, the laptops, the Ipads, the monies, the other goods, the suitcases and the likes? Did you hand them over to the police or road safety officers who came around? Did you take conscious effort at securing or protecting the belongings of those incapacitated?<\/p>\n
Have you been saved in the same car crash that took the life of others? In the midst of the unfortunate, did you claim ownership of item(s) belonging to someone who died? Did you ensure the belongings of the dead or the incapacitated got back to their relatives?<\/p>\n
Are you a police or safety officer who was handed over belongings of the incapacitated? Did you end up keeping them in your room or, you went the extra mile to locate and hand them over to their relatives? Are there in your office, items belonging to accident victims gathering dust because probably you do not like what is inside?<\/p>\n
If your answers to these questions in truth are that you did some wrong, then you are a temporal situational thieve! And if you are a habitual situational thief, then you are a permanent highway robber! A profiteer of sorrowful moments!<\/p>\n
Many are the people in Ghana that have had to grieve over double tragedies arising from a single trouble; the loss of a loved one and the loss of a precious belonging. It can be equated to a notorious robber taking all your lifetime possessions whilst taking your life. It\u2019s a double trouble!!!<\/p>\n
Some of those who escape death but have to battle its marks could have had their life put back in shape if they had the chance to be given their belongings. Sadly, these temporal highway thieves, these robbers in suit who in truth lacks true sympathy for accident victims sees these tragic moments as snail picking seasons. They make away all belongings of the victims.<\/p>\n
Collins Ayamga is 23 years now. He and his father were involved in an accident on the Apam Takoradi stretch in September 2012. Then 18 years, his when his father was taking him to school in Takoradi after the third term holidays.<\/p>\n
\u201cI lost my dad and my dad\u2019s friend in the accident. They were in the front seats. I remember hearing screams from those in the town when our car smashed in the packed truck. That was all I remember. My mother told me after two weeks that, my chop box and its makeup, my father\u2019s laptop that was at the back of the seat, his phones, my dad\u2019s friend phone all the documents that were at the back were all missing. Till date we did not see them\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, I had my suitcase after returning from the hospital three days later but the content was completely ransacked. For my purse, the Sumsung S4 phone and monies, they were never found\u201d. Deborah Ansah-Anagi, Takoradi.<\/p>\n
Transportation system in Ghana is a shame, courtesy the Ghana Private Road Transport Union GPRTU, Progressive Transport Owners Association PROTOA and the transport ministry at large. Apart from primary successfully moving people from Accra to Kumasi, Accra Takoradi, or Accra to elsewhere, what other improvement has come to the sector? Even in the famous Yutong buses, people eat rice and stew and all manner of foods in the air-conditioned buses.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s just on a lighter note. Years down the line, rickety buses abound on our streets. Accra, the seat of government is a mess. The intra trotros around Circle are just unfit for the new the Dubai. Picture hard working Ghanaians packed in old rickety buses after hard day\u2019s work at present day Nkrumah \u201cDubai\u201d Circle? The GPRTU and Co thinks this is the best they can offer Ghanaians. Fast forward to rural Ghana.<\/p>\n
In rural areas, it is still a norm to pack people in cars like sardines. Picture six people in the back seat of a rickety taxi and three in front. Tell me I am lying! Is it the best for the people who work to bring up the GD whan whan P? That\u2019s the story. But it\u2019s not surprising. Accra the capital is struggling, let alone rural Ghana.<\/p>\n
Add that to the poor data collection on passengers travelling more than 30kilometers. No one knows who is in the bus with me. No one knows what is on you. These facts can be collected and left at the station before journeys start, such that in the event of any accident managers of the station can do some tracking easily to relatives.<\/p>\n
You could also have a team of investigators at each station which will visit accident sites to recover belongings of people [which they took stock of them before the journey started] which might have been \u201cstolen\u201d by these temporal highway thieves.<\/p>\n
How many persons are killed each year in Ghana in motor accidents? Thousands! So you can understand the magnitude of the problem. Were their belongings found and handed over to their relatives, No, they were stolen!<\/p>\n
Usually, families and loved ones take consolation from the fact that the person survived the accident, and so leaves the lost item \u201cto God\u201d. But this is not right! Yes, it\u2019s not right! Why will you report a robbery incident in your home to the police even if they only stole your possessions but did not take your life, but will hesitate to report same to safety officials? They are all thievery and must be reported and pursued. If not, this canker may well live with us till the end of time!<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo
\n[E-mail: walkerjazzy23@gmail.com]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At first site, they are working out of sympathy for the injured. Picture it; they are collecting fresh leaves to cover the dead if there are any. They are calling the police to inform them of the incident. They are calling Fire Service and Ambulance Services to come to the scene. Some are administering instinctive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[374],"tags":[737,3,2875],"yoast_head":"\n