By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Roads Transport Authority, SLRTA, says her agency has been rebranded in line with the United Nations Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.
Dr. Sarah Bendu said the corporation was now known as the Sierra Leone Roads Safety Authority, SLRSA, as she addressed a stakeholders’ meeting in Freetown on the theme: “Re-branding the Sierra Leone Road Transport Authority for Better Performance”.
She revealed that her agency, under the ministry of transport and aviation, was undertaking a series of activities aimed at rebranding the authority so as to meet the UN goals by 2020.
Bendu said the Sierra Leone government believed that with more concerted efforts and intensive activities, “the country will be in a better position to meet the set goals of reducing deaths caused by road crashes by 50% and cut down on road traffic accidents by 25%”.
The agency was transformed from a government department to an authority after they developed the “National Road Safety Strategy and Policy in line with the UN declaration of a Decade of Action for road safety for a better performance and efficiency in the Road Transport Sector”.
Dr. Bendu added that they believed further review of their mandate was necessary so they could meet the ever-growing needs of the road safety strategy and the UN declaration.
She said that over the years the corporation was able to make a contribution of over Le 50 billion to the roads fund, adding that they had also encouraged the private sector to participate in the road transport sector.
She urged the private and public sectors to cooperate with them and support her agency’s venture to assist in the re-branding process of the authority and work towards meeting the set goals.
Police Director of Traffic Management and Road Safety, AIG Joseph Nabieu, said they were always ready and would continue to work together with the SLRSA.
“We are aware that the roads are small and bad but if only drivers would be more careful then we’ll save many more lives on our roads,” adding that road safety was not just about drivers and the road but also was about us as pedestrians on these roads” he said.
Deputy Minister of Transport and Aviation, Ibrahim Kamara said they had already ratified and endorsed the re-branding bill that would give authority to the new roads authority. He said the transformation of the agency, which was first done in 1997, was “geared towards having an agency outside government to regulate road safety operations in the country”.
He said the process would help the country greatly in meeting the goals set by the UN, and called on both the private and public sectors to support the SLRSA’s move.
© Politico 18/12/14
