The Motor Traffic and Transport Directorate (MTTD), an agency under the Ghana Police Service, has grabbed a private driver who reportedly ran into a teacher on the Bolgatanga-Navrongo Highway and disappeared from the scene to hide the accident car.
The incident comes as some families continue to shed tears over some 51 lives lost in the Upper East Region as a result of road traffic crashes recorded between January and June 2021, according to the National Road Safety Authority.
John Bawa, an employee of the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development in the region is said to have appeared from a junction in a brand-new car around the Bolgatanga High Court and crashed into the teacher, David Agumbire, riding north on the highway on Friday, August 20, 2021.
Witnesses said Mr Bawa, immediately after the crash, took off with the blue private car to his office several metres away, abandoned the victim to the mercies of the other road users at the scene. Mr Agumbire was rushed to the Upper East Regional Hospital by concerned individuals not involved in the crash, according to a bystander.
Answering questions from newsmen, Mr Bawa confirmed he took the vehicle to his office right from the crash scene but said he did not hide it. He also said he returned to the scene and chartered a motorised tricycle (known as ‘Mahama Can Do’) to convey the victim to a hospital.
Authorities at the regional MTTD office in Bolgatanga told Starr News Mr Bawa’s action― moving the vehicle to his workplace right from the scene― was at odds with the law.
The authorities said he did not report himself (as he should have) until somebody reported the incident to the MTTD which subsequently summoned him by phone. They said he also did not take the car to the police first (as expected by law) until Monday, August 30, 2021― 10 clear days after the crash.