Commendable action by La Nkwantanang-Madina Assembly, but...

“Spare the rod and spoil the child” is a Biblical admonition. It may sound ordinary, but it is certainly poignant.

It refers to the need to ensure discipline and orderliness, among other virtues, at all times.

It also enjoins us to, as a people, enforce rules, regulations and laws at all times to prevent people from doing the wrong thing or being recalcitrant.

This week, the La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly, in collaboration with the Madina Police, has stepped up efforts to compel pedestrians to use the footbridges on the Madina-Adentan highway.

The footbridges were constructed late last year after incessant calls on the government to mount them after dozens of pedestrians were knocked down by vehicles on that stretch of the road.

However, it is unfortunate that, soon after the construction of the bridges, the very same people who called for their construction refused to use them and resorted to the same practice of dangerously crossing the road at different dangerous points.

A visit by the Daily Graphic to the footbridges in September last year showed that in spite of the threat to their safety, many pedestrians along the Madina-Adentan stretch of the N4 Highway were still adamant and kept using unapproved means to cross the road.

The Daily Graphic notes with concern that since guards of the assembly decided to use some force to compel pedestrians to change their ways, there is evidence to show that there is a massive upsurge in the number of people who use the footbridges, particularly at Zongo Junction.

Do we really need flogging by law enforcers before we do the right thing? How come that, as a people, we find it difficult to use footbridges?

Five out of the six footbridges on the stretch have been completed and opened for public use.

At the Zongo Junction, about eight assembly guards and policemen are seen constantly directing pedestrians who come to stand by the side of the road waiting for vehicles to stop for them to cross to use the footbridge.

Nursing mothers, the aged, young men and women, traders carrying their wares are all directed by the guards and the policemen to use the footbridge.

We do not approve of flogging as a means to compel pedestrians to do what is right, and it should not be seen as the magic wand to do the work. In our view, that method is not sustainable, even though it seems to be working for now.

Rather, we urge the authorities to close or fence the various spots where people use most often in their attempt to defy the orders of the guards.

In other jurisdictions, there is no room for pedestrians to feel tempted to do otherwise because all the available spots that could tempt them are duly blocked. We must do same here and the people will be compelled to comply with the order to use the footbridges without having to flog them.

We also prevail on the authorities to ensure that commercial drivers who stop right after the traffic lights, claiming more than two of the three lanes, desist from that practice with immediate effect.

Their unlawful action causes too much traffic on that stretch and that is most unfortunate and unacceptable.

While we commend the assembly for trying to get the people to do the right thing, we trust that all the other measures proposed will be taken into consideration to ensure sanity in the area.

Assemblies in other parts of the country that face similar challenges can learn a lesson or two from the experiences of the La Nkwantanang-Madina Municipal Assembly.