The presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama has raised concerns about the safety protocols following the accident involving a newly imported train on its test run along the Tema-Mpakadan railway line.
He was wondering the adequacy of pre-operational checks done before the test run.
In a post he shared on X, he demanded answers as to what was done before the test run was conducted.
“How can you conduct a test run on a new railway line without a track inspection? How long had the vehicle been on the track before the test run? If I were President, I’ll be asking some serious questions,” the post read.
Meanwhile, Abel Dzidotor, the driver of the truck, has been sentenced to a six-month jail term.
Abel Dzidotor, 41, was convicted and sentenced on Friday, April 19, after admitting guilt to three out of the four charges leveled against him.
He will face additional punishment should he fail to produce his driver’s licence as ordered by the court.
He was charged with inconsiderate driving and causing unlawful damage, among others.
Mr Dzidotor received a sentence of 100 penalty units, equivalent to a potential 20-month prison term if he defaulted after pleading guilty to the charge of careless and inconsiderate driving, a violation of Section 3 of the Road Traffic Act 683 (2004), as amended by Act 761 of 2008.
On the charge of unauthorised stopping, he was sentenced to 20 penalty units, or a five-month jail term in default.
The third charge was for causing unlawful damage, contrary to Section 172b of the Criminal Offences Act 2960. He pleaded guilty and was slapped with a six-month sentence with hard labour.
The fourth charge was for failing to produce a driver’s license, contrary to regulation 47(2) of LI 21(80).
He pleaded not guilty, asserting that his license was within the damaged vehicle.
The accident involved a new train procured from Poland which was undergoing a test run within the Asuogyaman District on Thursday, April 18.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
