The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has signalled a new era in urban safety with the launch of its first-ever Road Safety Advisory Board, a multi-stakeholder platform aimed at tackling the city’s rising road safety concerns through data-driven planning and collective action.
Chaired by the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr. Richard Kwasi Ofori-Agyeman Boadi, the maiden meeting brought together key institutional partners and civil society actors, laying the groundwork for what he called a “comprehensive and sustainable response” to Kumasi’s road safety crisis.
“This initiative marks a shift from rhetoric to responsibility,” Mr. Boadi stated. “For too long, road safety has been relegated to the background. That ends now. Every resident of Kumasi deserves to leave home and return safely.”
The meeting, held under the auspices of the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), included technical presentations on known accident hotspots and progress reports from the Assembly’s ongoing interventions, in collaboration with Vital Strategies.
More than just a ceremonial gathering, the advisory board serves as a strategic think tank uniting key actors from the Kumasi Traditional Council, Ghana Police MTTD, National Road Safety Authority (NRSA), Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), transport unions, and agencies such as the Department of Urban Roads, BRRI–CSIR, and the National Ambulance Service.
Collectively, they explored practical ways to reduce fatalities — especially among pedestrians — and address the city’s worsening challenges, including:
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Traffic congestion and poor signal coordination
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Dimly lit streets posing hazards for night-time commuters
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Unauthorised loading points disrupting flow and safety
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Unregulated fare hikes by commercial transport operators
One of the standout outcomes of the meeting was the renewed political commitment from the KMA to prioritise road safety not just as a traffic issue, but as a public health and urban development concern.
Mr. Boadi assured participants that the Assembly would not treat the meeting as a one-off event but would work closely with all board members to transform recommendations into measurable actions.
With Kumasi’s population and vehicular density growing rapidly, the establishment of the Road Safety Advisory Board is being seen by observers as a timely and necessary intervention — one that could serve as a model for other metropolitan areas grappling with similar challenges.
As the city embarks on this coordinated journey toward safer roads, residents will be looking forward to real improvements — not just in traffic flow, but in everyday confidence that their journeys through Kumasi will be safer, smarter, and better managed.
