Interior Minister Muntaka Mubarak has announced tougher new rules on the use of sirens on government vehicles, stressing that not all political appointees will be allowed to use them.
Speaking in an interview on Tuesday, June 23, he said the move is part of wider efforts to improve road safety and reduce the misuse of privileges linked to public office.
According to him, a directive from the Office of the President now requires any request for a siren to be properly justified and approved by the President.
Muntaka explained that President John Dramani Mahama has ordered that ministers and political appointees should not automatically receive sirens unless there is clear evidence they genuinely need them for official duties.
“The president has firmly said anyone within the government who is not authorised to use it, and he or she puts it when you arrest such persons, don’t leave it, furnish me with their names,” he said the president ordered him to do.
In line with the new framework, the Minister disclosed that an application portal has been opened for individuals seeking permission to use sirens on their official vehicles. All requests, he noted, will be subject to presidential scrutiny and approval.
“The president has asked, including my colleague ministers, you have to apply to the interior minister, and I will have to forward to his office for us to say this person needs a motor rider to lead him or her and this other person, no. So even my own colleagues who are ministers have applied, and I am processing it for the office of the president to decide,” he noted.
The policy shift, the minister says, is aimed at restoring discipline, curbing misuse of privileges, and reinforcing public confidence in the equitable use of state resources, particularly on the country’s roads.
