HARRY HAMMONDTel No; 0244658466 \ 0207698171:Email; gozaro007@gmail.com
From October 1st, the Ghana Police Service intended to introduce TRAFFITECH-GH, an automated traffic law enforcement program using cameras and PDA devices to detect offences and issue Electronic Notices of Violation via SMS. The philosophy behind the whole idea is not to generate money but to reduce the occurrence of needless accidents that end up claiming precious lives on our roads. That vision is quite laudable and a novelty to be supported by all well-meaning Ghanaians. No one who has lost a relative to the carnage on the Accra-Kumasi Road or the recklessness at Lapaz can oppose technology that promises discipline.
But I beg to ask: why the haste? There are more begging questions than answers, and the rush to roll out raises genuine fears that we are about to repeat a familiar Ghanaian mistake implementing a brilliant idea badly. First, is the infrastructure ready for take-off? TRAFFITECH-GH depends on a seamless chain: cameras capturing violations, reliable power to keep them running, synchronized traffic lights, real-time data transmission, and integration with DVLA, NIC, and Ghana.gov platforms for fines to be paid within 14 days.
How far have we gone? In many parts of Accra and Kumasi, traffic lights are either dysfunctional or go off intermittently. What will mitigate the situation if the lights go off and the cameras are on? Will a driver be fined GH¢120 to GH¢360 for jumping a red light that was not showing red? Who adjudicates that?
Second, how far has education gone for stakeholders? A system that fines the registered owner, even if another person was driving and escalates fines for repeat offences up to GH¢2,400, with possible license suspension on the sixth offence, demands massive public understanding. Commercial drivers, trotroowners, okada riders, pedestrians who can now be fined GH¢60 for jaywalking, have they all been adequately sensitized in Twi, Ga, Ewe, Hausa, not just in English press releases? The pilot phase reportedly issued 120,000 caution notices between 2024 and 2025, but a caution is not education.
Third, how reliable is our power for the roll-out? Cameras that depend on the national grid without dedicated backup will create gaps and disputes. In a country where even police stations rely on generators, can we guarantee 24-hour uptime for roadside cameras?
Fourth, are the police themselves, as human resources, ready for this change? The MTTD has completed five regional training sessions, the last in Ho on September 24 for 45 participants. That is commendable, but 45 officers in Ho does not translate into national readiness. What happens at the critical interface between man and machine? What will the situation be like if a policeman is manually directing traffic when the lights are off and the cameras are on? Which instruction prevails, the officer’s hand signal or the camera’s algorithm? I foresee a recipe for chaos and confusion arising out of this hasty roll-out. I am not an expert in road traffic management, but from the look of things, there is more to be done before this hasty roll-on. Though it has kept long on the drawing board, it does not mean it is time to roll it on. The fact that the Police Service itself, on September 29, 2026, postponed the full implementation from October 1 to November 1, 2026 to allow for “more extensive public awareness,” vindicates these concerns. If the implementers themselves admit they need more time for education, why were we rushing in the first place?
This is the real truth: things done by halves are never done right. We saw it with the abrupt stoppage of road tolls without any empirical reason but political expediency, which left roads deteriorating and workers stranded. We cannot afford a digital toll of injustice where faulty equipment issues wrong fines and citizens have to struggle through an online portal within 14 days to contest.
Let us be clear: we want TRAFFITECH-GH to succeed. Automated enforcement can reduce the human interface that the Ghana Statistical Service says makes the MTTD the institution most associated with bribery 54.6% in late 2025. It can save lives. But success requires sequencing: fix and solar-power the traffic lights, publish the camera locations, run a 90-day public test where notices are warnings, not fines, establish a simple USSD appeal system for the non-smartphone driver, and train every MTTD officer on human override protocols.
Let us stop and think through before we become a laughing stock to onlookers. A one-month postponement is good, but let us use it wisely. Better to delay by three months and get it right than to rush on October 1st and collapse under disputes, dark cameras, and public distrust.
