The Road Safety Advocate Ghana, a civil society organisation and another person have dragged the government to an Accra Human Rights Court, seeking an order to compel the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) to remove pictures of former Heads of State and President John Mahama from the rebranded buses.
Joined to the application for mandamus are the Attorney General and the Ministry of Transport.
According to the Counsel for the applicants, Kwabena Konadu Yiadom, the rebranding contravened the Road Traffic Regulatory Act 2012 LI 21(80) which stated that “you can only drive a motor vehicle with glass other than windscreen and front glass tinted with light transmittance of at least 70 per cent.”
That, he said, would allow the occupants of the bus to see from within and be seen from outside.
The counsel said with the current state of the rebranded buses “you cannot be seen, putting the lives of the occupants in danger, especially, when they come under attack in the bus.”
“When an armed robber enters the bus to attack passengers, those standing outside should be able to see, but that is not the case”, he added.
He further contended that under regulation 68 (1),“a person shall not drive a mini bus or bus for commercial purposes unless it has a continuous roll of windows on the right and left sides of the passenger compartment.”
The Counsel added that in the case of the rebranded buses, the windows on the passenger compartments have been blocked, occasioning their action to pray the court to compel the MMT to remove the materials used because it obscured the view of passengers.
The court, presided over by an Appeal Court Judge, sitting as an additional High Court Judge, Justice Denise Adjei, adjourned the case to July 12, to enable the Attorney General’s Department serve the applicants with their affidavit in opposition.
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