The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has engaged the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) to identify key road-safety challenges, priorities and interventions for consideration in the preparation of Ghana’s Strategic National Development Plan.
The engagement, held on Thursday, August 27, 2026, formed part of the NDPC’s consultations with key institutions to identify critical development challenges that should be addressed under the plan.
Discussions focused on persistent road indiscipline, enforcement, institutional capacity, road-crash data, behavioural change and inter-agency coordination, as well as measures to improve road-safety outcomes.
Opening the engagement, Chairman of the NDPC, Dr Nii Moi Thompson, said road safety must be considered within the broader context of national development, noting that weak enforcement and disregard for regulations affect public safety, productivity and the returns on public investments.
He said Ghana’s challenge was not necessarily the absence of laws or institutions, but the ability of institutions to translate their mandates into measurable results.
“What is the conveyor belt at this Authority? Is it broken? If it’s broken, why is it broken? How can we fix it?” he asked, stressing the need to identify and address institutional bottlenecks that undermine effective delivery.
Dr Thompson also emphasised the need to combine institutional effectiveness with behavioural change, arguing that laws and regulations alone would not produce the desired results without compliance by citizens and institutions.
“The institutions and behavioural change have to go hand in hand,” he said.
He further cautioned against viewing road-crash victims merely as statistics, stressing that every life lost or seriously injured has consequences for families, communities and the wider economy.
Dr Thompson said concerns emerging from the engagement would inform the NDPC’s work on governance, law and order, and effective institutions under the Strategic National Development Plan.
Responding, NRSA Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Alexander Ayeta, outlined the Authority’s interventions in education, enforcement, engineering and emergency response.
He said the NRSA was pursuing technology-based approaches to enforcement, including the piloting of automated traffic enforcement systems. He also highlighted efforts to improve the availability and reliability of road-crash data to support planning, enforcement and decision-making.
Mr Ayeta, however, identified inadequate funding and operational logistics as major constraints affecting the Authority’s ability to effectively deliver on its mandate.
Director-General of the NDPC, Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, said the Commission would explore areas of technical support, particularly in strengthening coordination, data collection and road-safety reporting at the sub-national level, including across the country’s 261 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).
She also proposed incorporating appropriate road-safety indicators into existing local government performance frameworks to strengthen monitoring and accountability and provide a clearer basis for assessing road-safety outcomes at the local level.
Senior NRSA officials also called for stronger decentralised road-safety structures, improved road design and pedestrian infrastructure, sustainable financing for emergency care for crash victims, and enhanced coordination among institutions responsible for road safety.
They stressed that improving road-safety outcomes would require sustained collaboration among the NRSA, Ghana Police Service, road agencies, health institutions, MMDAs and other relevant stakeholders.
The issues and proposals emerging from the engagement will inform the NDPC’s ongoing consultations towards the preparation of the Strategic National Development Plan.
