A former government minister is raising the alarm over what he describes as a growing erosion of road discipline in Accra, singling out weekly church-driven lane closures on the Spintex Road and the rampant misuse of emergency sirens as symptoms of a deeper governance failure.
Dr. Kwabena Donkor, former Member of Parliament and former Minister for Power, told The High Street Journal that the situation along the Spintex Road, including its newly expanded stretch commonly referred to as the Mahama Road Extension, has reached a point where private interests routinely override the rights of the general public, often with the active involvement of law enforcement.
“On Sundays, the police block one side of the dual carriageway. There are four lanes. They block two lanes because some churches worship along that road. Where in the civilised world do we have that? Churches are expected to have their car parks. That must be a requirement,” he said.
Dr. Donkor noted that what was once an occasional inconvenience has hardened into an institutionalised practice, with police officers not merely permitting the closures but physically erecting barriers to enforce them. He argued this represents a fundamental failure of regulatory authority.
“When you see the police using their metal barriers to block two sides of a four-lane road, that means there is something seriously wrong. Permanently, for private use, every Sunday. It is the best expression of how much we have lost control,” he said.
Beyond road blockages, Dr. Donkor raised sharp concerns about the proliferation of siren use across Accra. He said what was once reserved for genuine emergencies has become a routine tool of convenience for an expanding range of vehicles, including those operated by non-emergency public agencies.
“Today, if you live on the Spintex Road, almost every three out of ten vehicles using that road come with a siren. Virtually all military vehicles use sirens and ignore road traffic. And it is not just the military. Police vehicles. Increasingly, a number of four-wheel drives. Even the Ghana Revenue Authority, fire service, immigration service, name them. And these are staff vehicles, not operational vehicles,” he said.
He warned that the overuse of sirens carries serious safety consequences. When drivers are exposed to siren noise constantly, they become desensitized, meaning genuine emergencies involving ambulances or fire trucks may not receive the urgent response they require.
Dr. Donkor also highlighted the behaviour of bullion vans, which he said operate with quasi-emergency privileges on public roads despite most being required under Bank of Ghana directives to be armoured, reducing any legitimate justification for urgency.
He called on the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD), the Ghana Highway Authority, and the National Road Safety Authority to reassert control over public roads, warning that the economic cost of prolonged traffic disruption, reduced logistics efficiency, and weakened investor perception is far greater than the inconvenience being caused to individual commuters.
