3rd Kofi Annan Road Safety Award
Technical Workshop
Statement by
Mr. Antonio Pedro,
Deputy Executive Secretary,
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
Eswatini, 14 April 2025
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Chief Ndlaluhlaza NDWANDWE, Minister for Public Works and Transport, Kingdom of Eswatini,
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Mr. Thulani MKHALIPHI: Principal Secretary, Ministry of Public Works and Transport, Kingdom of Eswatini,
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Mr. George WACHIRA, United Nations Resident Coordinator, Kingdom of Eswatini,
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Colleagues of the United Nations,
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Ladies and Gentlemen.
I am delighted to be in the beautiful Kingdom of Eswatini to represent the Economic Commission for Africa at the 2025 Kofi Annan Road Safety Award. The choice of Eswatini for this year’s celebration shows that the UN system and the Kofi Annan Foundation recognise Eswatini’s commitment for Road safety.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Globally, road traffic crashes cause nearly 1.3 million preventable deaths and an estimated 50 million injuries annually, making them the primary cause of death among children and adolescents. Even though the number of road accidents in Africa is significantly higher than in other regions of the world, roads will remain by far the most popular mode of transportation for a long time in a context of a constantly growing population and economic activities requiring more travel. The share of roads in transportation of goods is projected to be 80% in 2030.
The theme of this technical workshop, organised as part of the Third Kofi Annan Road Safety Award, is "Mobilizing domestic financing to accelerate the road safety agenda in Africa". The importance of sustainable financing to reducing road deaths is universally acknowledged and cannot be overstated.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Resource mobilisation is prioritised in the Global Action Plan for the Second United Nations Decade for Road Safety 2021-2030, that ECA contributed to articulate. This is relevant for Africa where inadequate financing is a major constraint to the effective functioning of road safety organisations and initiatives. It is unacceptable that many road safety bodies on the continent are not funded through national budgets. According to the 2023 WHO Global Road Safety Status Report, only 16 out of 45 surveyed countries in Africa had funded their lead road safety agencies through government budget.
African countries have adopted targets for road safety finance but rarely meet these targets, that include allocating 5% of road maintenance resources and 10% of road investment to road safety. A joint ECA and AUC review of the African Road Safety Action Plan for the Decade 2011-2020 showed that more than 50% of member States had not taken significant action to meet these targets.
While a variety of funding sources could be used to promote road safety in Africa, dependence on donor support remains excessive. This is not sustainable, particularly in the current global context of dwindling and uncertain official development assistance. African governments must, therefore, step up and take responsibility for the safety of their road users. It is encouraging that road maintenance agencies in some countries are involved in funding road safety. I am delighted to know that the Association of Road Management Funds of Africa (ARMFA) is represented in this workshop. I am convinced that the experiences of its members in road safety will be a valuable input to the deliberations of this gathering.
In countries such as Ghana, Guinea, Ethiopia, and Cameroon, road funds are allocating resources to road safety interventions. Tolling, road levies, insurance, petroleum taxes, and vehicle inspection charges are potential sources of funds for road safety. I encourage member States to explore these and other innovative funding sources, bearing in mind the specificities of countries across the continent.
Excellencies
Governments must partner with the private sector to curb road deaths in Africa. In this regard, digitalisation and the use of frontier technologies in general offer new possibilities for Public Private Partnership (PPPs). A policy dialogue organised by ECA in 2024 revealed ongoing efforts to harness digitalisation for road safety, notably through PPPs, in several countries on the continent, including Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroun, and Ghana. A PPP arrangement for traffic enforcement could offer more effective and reliable services, while deploying adapted and well-maintained systems and technologies, with a higher level of transparency.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Effective management is fundamental in road safety and critical to ensure that digitalization and PPPs make a difference in reducing road deaths and injuries. In the absence of robust road safety management capacity, interventions are fragmented and temporary, with localized effects that are insufficient to achieve the goal of halving road fatalities by 2030.
Research has shown a positive correlation between the level of road safety management and safety performance of a country. That is why ECA is focused on enhancing road safety management in Africa.
Let me therefore end by assuring you of our commitment to supporting African countries in strengthening their road safety management capacity and mobilizing resources to end the carnage on the continent’s roads.
Thank you for your attention.