Drivers on the country’s highways are appealing to the government to strengthen security on the country’s highways to protect drivers and passengers.

According to them, several drivers and passengers have died while others had suffered serious injuries in the hands of armed robbers who attacked them on the highways, especially in the night.

Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Progressive Transport Owners’ Association (PROTOA), Joseph Mensah who made the appeal, said the gruesome murder of the Member of Parliament for Mfantseman, Ekow Quansah Hayford in an armed robbery attack on a highway, should reinforce the need for adequate protection of drivers and passengers to ensure their safety on the roads.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi, he said though MPs and government officials needed adequate protection, ordinary citizens, who suffered similar unfortunate situations, also needed protection.

He explained that when drivers or passengers, especially those who were bread winners in their families, suffered injuries or died in the hands of highway robbers, it created serious difficulties for the bereaved families.

“Children of such victims become orphans and often drop out of school or apprenticeship. Wives or husbands become dejected and family tears apart”, he told the GNA.

Mr Mensah, said it was time the government recruited more security personnel to provide adequate security to every Ghanaian and not the few who were in elite positions.

He said the attention of Ghanaians should not only be on the MP, but other victims who also suffered similar fate on that fateful day, and those who had fallen victim to armed robbers in every part of the country’s highways.