By Lamin Njie
The Ministry of Transport, Works and In collaboration with the Management Developmnet Institute (MDI), on Friday, 19th May, 2023 completed a five-day training on road safety for seventy-six government drivers, agencies and departments at the National Nutrition Agency along the Bertil Harding Highway.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Sainabou Houma, Principal Transport Policy Officer at the Ministry of Transport, on behalf of the Permanent Secretary, said her Ministry is mandated to oversee all public and transport infrastructural development in the Gambia more importantly roads.
“As we build our roads, it is equally important to sensitize the users as to the usages. The focus of this first phase of the training is centred on public drivers,, that is government drivers and the subject area concentrated on safety, professionalism, ethics among others, ” she said.
According to her, driving a government vehicle does not make any driver above the law. Therefore, she called on the drivers to always abide by all traffic rules with care and caution.
“Roads user behavioral changes are necessary to help reduce and prevent road collisions. This can be partly achieved through awareness programs, training, publicity and promotion. The ministry of transport intends to continue this road safety program by training more drivers both in the public and private sector, ” she said.
Mrs. Houma finally used the occasion to call on private individuals, philanthropist and companies to collaborate with the ministry to support this initiative.