Exactly 52 years ago today, Ghana made one of the most significant changes in its transport history by abandoning a key legacy of British colonial rule—switching from driving on the right-hand side of the road to the left.
The nationwide transition also coincided with the country's adoption of the metric system of weights and measurements, replacing the imperial system.
The change required extensive public education, road modifications and careful coordination to ensure a smooth transition.
Today, it remains one of Ghana's most successful nationwide policy shifts, enhancing uniformity with many neighbouring countries and modernising the country's transport and measurement systems.
These were two landmark policy decisions taken by the then military government led by General I. K. Acheampong.
At the time, the changes generated widespread public debate and uncertainty.
Many Ghanaians questioned whether the country would successfully implement the transition or whether the government was plunging the nation into unnecessary confusion and chaos.
Legacy
Determined, however, to leave a legacy behind, the government of the day went ahead with its plans, and the move came to pass on August 4, 1974.
With independence from our British colonial masters in 1957 accomplished on March 6, 1957, followed by the achievement of a republican status on July 1, 1961, the country had already successfully begun packing away those British systems that were not necessarily beneficial to our republican status.
A lot was done by the affable first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
Others who followed him thankfully saw the need for us to switch into a fast gear when it came to shedding off some of the colonial practices which were at variance with our governance system, as well as our culture.
At the same time, we needed to stay aligned with our West African neighbours.
In the entire West African region, for example, all the neighbours were driving on the left.
They had changed their system of measurement to the metric system as well.
It made sense, therefore, that we in Ghana got in tune to facilitate free movement of people and free trade.
One may even say that those were perhaps the early beginnings of paving the way for the much-talked-about intercontinental free trade of recent times.
And so on August 4, 1974, dreams became reality and the historic change over to moving to driving on the left, away from the decades-old driving on the right, was born.
There was a lot of excitement as people gathered at “demonstration” points in major cities and towns to watch the changeover and how it would pan out.
As it turned out, the day came with loads of joy and, of course, some trepidation too for drivers especially, since the majority of vehicles on our roads had their steering wheels on the right. How were they going to manoeuvre?
Publicity
For months before the changeover, the publicity to educate the citizens was at the top.
Unlike today when social media, the Internet and digital communication have overcrowded our environment, there were not many of such at the time, but the education and public awareness went far.
Visible road signs, directing and alerting drivers and pedestrians, were all over the place to notify and dispel confusion.
The catchy communication slogan used at the time - “Nifa, Nifa, yaagyae”, meaning we have stopped driving on the right, still rings a bell when one talks about the switchover to driving on the left.
The Information Services Department across the country did some marvelous works disseminating information on the changeover.
The electronic and print media bombarded us with publicity on the changeover. School children were not left out of the education and awareness programmes.
The police and other safety personnel were for a time on the road to monitor and help with appropriate directions where needed.
Admittedly, and as may have been expected in an exercise of that nature, there were reports of confusion and chaos on the roads.
These were reported on a daily basis, but because there were very few vehicles plying our roads at the time, compared to now, management of cars during the period was not too complicated.
The excitement surrounding the whole changeover and the fact that we were going to be at par with others in the sub-region with some boost to economic development was much in the air.
Over half a century later, one can now look back and admit that the decision taken to switch driving from the right to the left and go on to change our measuring system has served our country well. We have moved forward with the rest of the world.
Now, the success and excitement that characterised the period will always be remembered as one of the legacies of the late Army General, General Kutu Acheampong.
Above all, the whole process in achieving a smooth changeover would remain a measure of how well the situation was managed, in the absence of heightened technology like today.
We were able to, some way; somehow, pursue a flawless execution of a marketing communication to accomplish “Nifa, nifa yaagyae”.
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