Former President John Dramani Mahama has stated categorically that Okada business which is illegal per the laws of the country has created more jobs than the recently implemented NaBCo.
According to him, the Okada business has come to stay and it has become the livelihood for a lot of people, therefore, the need to legalize it, also created more employment avenues than any of the employment-based programmes of the government, including the YEA.
The Nation Builders Corps (NaBCo) which was launched by the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia government in May 2018 targeted over 100,000 unemployed graduates with a monthly stipend of about GHC700.
GMA Banned
Early this year, the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) called on the government to ban the activities of commercial motor riders.
According to the association, it will reduce the overwhelming casualties they are receiving at the accident unit at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.
Dr Frederick Kwarteng, Head of the Accident, Emergency and Orthopaedic Department, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital speaking on the issue said “Until the government implements policies to regulate the use of motorbikes especially for commercial purposes, it should ban their operations to save lives. This is what we want,” he said.
He said it had become necessary as the number of road traffic accidents caused by Okada men kept becoming rampant, and got worse during the Christmas festive season.
Dr Frederick Kwarteng said “And this is causing the victims to lose their lives, legs and arms, brains, wealth and entire social life”.
Illegal Passage
Interesting, Mr Mahama forgot that in 2012, under his administration, passed the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 (Legislative Instrument 2180) to regulate road transport in the country.
Pursuant to this, Sections 128 (1), (2) and (3) of the L.I. 2180, prohibited the use of motorcycle or tricycle, or what has been popularly known as “Okada” for commercial purposes.
However, in March 2019, members of the NDC minority in Parliament made a u-turn calling for the amendment of the country’s road traffic laws to accommodate the Okada business but that has not materialized as the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) is still in the process of stakeholders engagement.
Mahama U-Turn
But the former President while defending his plans to legalise the unpopular mode of transport in an interview with NDC operated Woezor TV said “why behave like the turkey and bury your head in the sand? This Pragyan, Aboboyaa, okadas have created more jobs in this economy than any government job-related policy. It has created more jobs than NaBCo, YEA and all those artificial job creation programs…”
According to t him “I’ve been seeing young people who have finished school and they can’t find a job and, so, they are looking for something they can do and many of our young people are riding motorcycles and transporting people from place to place, and we call them Okada”.
He explained that “But in our law, it says Okada is illegal but Okada is a reality, it has come to stay, you can’t stop it, and, so, I’ve suggested and I say when we come into the office, we will legalise Okada but we will regulate it”.
He noted further that “We will regulate it and we will give them training so that they can do their business safely without causing the lives of people, they must obey all the traffic regulations in order that they are allowed to pursue their profession”.
He continued, “…these young people live under harassment because it’s illegal and so the police stop them, they take money from them and so my suggestion is that why do we behave like the ostrich? Let us legalise it and let us regulate it, let’s make it safer…”.
NDC MP Support
The Minority Ranking Member for Parliament’s Roads and Transport Committee, Kwame Agbodza on his side on Citi FM stated that “[Legalizing Okada] will be useful than even NaBCo because these people can create jobs within their locality. They don’t need to move from their locality to anywhere…. [When we do this] The teacher, nurse taking Okada to school doesn’t feel he’s breaking the laws any longer. I think the former president is in tune with the realities of the times. I will be happy to see this become a law to make Okada a safe and profitable business”.
Votes Buying
The Chairman of Parliament’s Roads and Transport Committee, also Member of Parliament for Ayensuano in the Eastern Region, Samuel Ayeh-Paye reacting to the issue accused the National Democratic Congress (NDC) of acting hypocritically in their promise to legalise the commercial use of motorcycles.
He said the NDC was in power when L.I 2180 was passed, banning the commercial use of motorcycles thus their sudden U-turn can only be interpreted as an attempt to convince the ‘Okada’ riders to vote for them.
Samuel Ayeh-Paye also indicated that the Roads and Transport Committee of Parliament was already working on regularizing the use of ‘Okada’.
“That law was passed by the NDC in 2012 in Parliament, so what are they telling Ghanaians today? That when they come, they will change the law and legalize Okada simply because they want those Okada riders to vote for them? If they think that the Okada is something that has come to stay and they want to legalize it, they need not ask the Okada people to vote for them before they legalize it.”
He explained that “The riders have already petitioned the committee and the committee is going to sit down with them and look at it. And the ranking member was on the committee when the petition came and we all shared ideas on how we should handle the Okada issue. Today because they want votes, they are saying when they come to power, they will legalize Okada for them.”
Ambrose Fire
The Minister for the Interior Ambrose Derry on his side questioned the appropriateness of former President John Mahama’s promise to legalize the operations of commercial motorcycles.
He said the government may consider regularizing if all necessary legal frameworks are done and it is found that the operations of the riders contribute to the public good.
Mr Dery said the manner in which Okada riders currently operate in the country is not the best.
“John Mahama was president before and Okada was with us. He didn’t do anything about it. Okada riders are not above the law. We have traffic lights but when others stop, they pass. So we need to allow them to operate, but if we do, they have to operate within the law. Currently, we are not legalizing it.
BY Daniel Bampoe
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