The use of motorbikes for commercial purpose, popularly called ‘okada’, has become the new-found trade for many young people across the country. What used to be just a means of transport for rural folks in particular, is now a viable source of livelihood for many Ghanaian youth.
Motorbikes have been the preferred means of transport for rural folks because it is the easiest and cheapest means by which they ply their businesses.
Farmers use motorbikes to carry heavy loads to and from the farm, nurses and health workers see it as the most efficient means to access the hinterlands to dispense healthcare services.
The last five years has seen a rise in the use of motorbikes for commercial purposes in towns and cities such as Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Cape Coast.
However, in 2012, the use of motorbikes for commercial transport in the country was outlawed under Section 128 (1) of the Road Traffic Regulations, 2012 which states that: “The licensing authority shall not register a motorcycle to carry a fare-paying passenger.”
The law also prohibits any person from using a motorcycle or tricycle for commercial purposes except for courier and delivery services, while it also prohibits pillions from riding on a motorcycle or tricycle as paying passengers. Offenders are liable to fines or imprisonment.
These laws are yet to see any strict enforcement. Whiles some are calling for it to be legalized and allow to operate within a given time, Doctors have also added their voice that government should revisit the conversation of legalizing motorbikes for commercial purposes. This is because of the increase in patients that are brought to hospitals as a result of motor cycle accidents.
Speaking on GBC’s Uniiq FM Breakfast Drive, the Director of Planning and Programmes of National Road Safety Commission, Engineer David Osafo Adonteng, said the use of motor cycle for commercial purposes has become a national issue where the law against it must be reviewed. He explained that, on one hand, the booming “Okada” business puts food on the table of many young men and their families who have little or no formal education, while on the other hand the activity has gone beyond safety where many deaths are recorded as a result of motor cycle accidents.
“Currently it is a whole national issue because if someone would want to look at it as a job for the boys, and if the doctors are saying it is so over whelming and do not have spaces for them, we don’t want to get to a state where we say it is a state of confusion. In 2010, 200 deaths were recorded and 437 deaths also recorded in 2016 a result of motor cycle accident,” he noted.
According to Engineer Adonteng, the National Road Commission together with Ministry of Transport will go across the country to solicit for ideas and opinion on reviewing the law against motor cycle usage for commercialisation.
The Head Education Research and Training with the Police Motor Traffic and Transport Department, Superintendent Alexander Obeng in a phone interview with Uniiq FM was of the view that there is the need for the state to take a second look at law against the motor cycle ownership use. This according to him, will enable the state to roll out additional strategies that will regulate it and have a new way of enforcement.
He said, “it is fair that the state will create a space for them to come to the table to take a deep look at what is happening because Ghanaians have found a new use for motor cycle since the ban. Because of the increase in motor cycle population, not only in police urbanise jurisdiction but also in urban centers of Accra and the rural environs, we need to sit down to take a look at motor cycle ownership use so that the state will be able roll out an additional strategies that will regulate, and out of the regulation we will have new way of enforcement . If we continue to arrest them we will never achieve the expected outcome.”
Story by: Mavis Arthur
