Calls to ban secondhand tyres

Tema, May 16, GNA -- The executive members of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) on Tuesday called on the government to take a second look at the importation of secondhand tyres into the country as they contribute to the numerous accidents.

The association conceded that though some of the accidents are caused by human error, a lot are due to the use of too many secondhand tyres that have dominated the local market.

He said as a country, "we cannot live on cheap used goods forever indicating that the solution to poverty should not be the use of used goods else the nation would continue to suffer."

The President of the AGI, Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi made the call when the executives of the AGI called at the Pioneer Food Cannery to console the management and staff on the recent accident that occurred on the Accra-Tema road, which claimed the lives of six of the workers and injured many others.

He called for the reactivation of the Bonsa Tyre factory in the Western Region, which would produce quality tyres instead of relying on cheap products that impact negatively on the people.

Mr Oteng-Gyasi hoped police investigations would delve deep into the cause of the accident as well as the quality of the tyres used by the vehicle, which was conveying the workers to work.

While urging the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to subject aspirant drivers to serious training before issuing them with their licenses and also ensure that drivers ply the roads with road worthy vehicles, the judiciary must also impose severe punishments on the offending drivers to serve as deterrent.

Mr Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako, Human Resource Manager of the PFC said three of the workers involved in the accident had their legs amputated and some are on admission at the hospital while efforts and being made to bury the dead.

He said the entire staff are being counselled by experts to help give the relief them from the trauma they went through during the incident. Mr Antwi-Boasiako hinted that the factory is faced with shortage of tuna, which is the raw material of production but efforts were being made to improve the situation. 16 May 06