The axe must fall heavily on these motorists

One of the key challenges confronting our country is the inability of some of the citizens to respect the rules of engagement. For this category of people, the rule of law does not matter and they take the laws of the land into their own hands. They do not care what happens to law-abiding citizens. It is all about themselves and their selfish interests.

All over the country, there are groups of people engaging in illegal mining otherwise known as galamsey. Their activities have made life uncomfortable for a number of people. Our water bodies have been destroyed, farmlands have been damaged, thereby, disturbing the ecology of our country.

To a large extent, their activities contribute to climate change. The rains do not come regularly as before and sometimes when they do, the effects are devastating.

That is not all, some of us indulge in indiscriminate dumping of refuse,  thus littering the streets and open drains. When it rains heavily, most parts of the streets of Accra and other places get flooded. People are displaced and sometimes lives are lost, and properties damaged.

There are other people who do not care about putting up structures at unauthorised places. School lands are encroached upon. Areas demarcated for roads have also been encroached upon and public places have been taken over by these unscrupulous people.

Motorists also do not respect road traffic regulations. They jump red lights, speed unnecessarily, park at unauthorised places and leave their broken-down vehicles in the middle of the roads without warning signals causing avoidable accidents. They also drive on the shoulders of the roads.

At workplaces, some workers engage in corrupt practices, and  loot the public purse, go to work late, close early and use most of their time to engage in private activities for personal gains. The list is endless.

While we complain about the inability of the government to address the challenges of our time, we do not do what is expected of us as responsible citizens. The government has no money of its own; it is the taxes we pay that are used to provide the needs of society.

It is against this background that the Daily Graphic finds it worrying that some motorists do not pay their road and bridge tolls. They ignore signals to stop at the tollbooths and the attendants who dare to question their actions are subjected to verbal assaults.

These motorists are nation wreckers, they should not be tolerated and the laws of the land must deal drastically with them. Those who disregard the payment at the tolls are the so-called “big men” of our society. They cannot claim ignorance of the regulations. They know that elsewhere little drops of taxes from tolls contribute immensely to the public purse for the development of the country.

The Daily Graphic is also worried that the government itself is unable to deal with nation wreckers because some of the culprits are its appointees. Some of them drop big names when they are confronted about their disregard for rules and regulations.

We, therefore, hope that the Ministry of Roads and Highways will set examples with those who refuse to pay the tolls. Those exempted from paying the tolls are known and, therefore, every motorist who falls within this group must be made to perform their civic responsibilities. Those who disregard lawful authority must be made to face the full rigours of the law.