Maintain laws banning okada operations - Hassan Tampuli

•Hassan Tampuli has called for the law banning okada operations to maintained

•He believes that legalising such a business would be counterproductive

•Mr Tampuli lamented on riders not obeying traffic rules which leads to many crashes

Deputy minister-designate for Transport, Hassan Tampuli, has said that laws banning commercial motorcycle (okada) operations must be maintained.

Explaining the rationale behind his statement, Mr Tampuli said okada riders disregard traffic rules, hence legalising such a business would be counterproductive.

“Ghana as a country has been with motorbikes for a long time, but it’s the commercialisation of same that I believe is the issue confronting us now. The issue goes beyond okada.

I think that generally, motorcycle riders sometimes turn to engage in some amount of rascality on the streets, and most of them don’t respect the road traffic regulations, and sometimes you see two or three people riding on the same bike with no helmets so, in the event of a crash, they don’t have any safety as far as the accident is concerned.”

He further raised concerns on the need to sensitize the public on the use of okada as a means of transport before legalising their operations.

“Currently, the commercialisation of motorbike is outlawed under the road traffic regulations, and I believe we should continue to maintain it for now until we are able to do a lot more public education about the use of it as a means of transport before we can roll it out.”

Mr Tampuli made these comments when he appeared before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Wednesday, June 9, 2021, to be vetted for the Deputy Transport Minister portfolio.

Okada business was outlawed in 2012

In 2012, the use of motorbikes for commercial transport in Ghana was outlawed under Regulation 128 (1 – 4) of Road Traffic Regulations 2012, which states: “The licensing authority shall not register a motorcycle to carry a fare-paying passenger.”