As a nation, we cannot keep mourning for our loved ones every week when such tragedies could have been avoided by timely construction of better roads.
Road safety is an important national issue that unfortunately is not getting the requisite attention from the government of the day.
It is evident from the rising death toll along the A3 road that the government needs to prioritise this road and not hide behind budgets constraints excuses. This is the same government that abandoned the proposed loan from the Republic of China to fund the rehabilitation of the road in 2020 citing excuses that ‘it was taking long’.
Now, the same government is taking forever to give this killer road or death trap if you like, a complete facelift.
Elsewhere in this publication we have detailed the death statistics recorded along this road and yet the authorities seem to be in a state of denial. The government must be held accountable for all the accidents caused due to bad roads.
What is even shocking is that government officials also travel on this road and there is no way they do not see the grave state of the A3 road and its burgeoning potholes. The state of the road poses many problems for travellers which include damage to car tyres, motor vehicles, slowing down traffic and business and increasing accidents.
Most Batswana travel by road and therefore, some of these bureaucrats must move beyond their armchair talk and tackle the real situation on the ground. The government has escaped responsibility of road accidents becoming a public safety hazard for so long and it is time they act and save the nation.
The A3 is a major economic corridor to the tourism heartland and the economic hub of the Ngami and Chobe Districts.
These accidents are not just killing the public but they will scare off tourists and we all know that tourism is the lifeline of the country’s economy. The government is clearly unable to maintain its roads countrywide but for now all the public seeks is an instant remedy to the A3 road situation.
Government should engage contractors immediately to start working on this road.
But the urgency of this situation is not an excuse for awarding tenders corruptly and engaging contractors who will do a shoddy job. Taxpayers and the people of Botswana deserve a properly built road which can at least last for more than 20 years.
Today's thought
“Good things happen not by managing time but by proritising attention.”
– Richie Norton
