‘Okada usage must be restricted to certain roads’

Mr Gayheart Edem Mensah, a presidential aspirant of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), has urged the authorities to limit the use of Okada on certain major roads and restrict them to communities where their services are essential.

“The Okada business has come to stay and we have to legalize their usage in some communities where their services are necessary…. because we cannot do away with them,” he said.

Mr Mensah was speaking at the Tema Regional Office of the Ghana News Agency on the Motor Transport and Traffic Department (MTTD) accident prevention platform.

The platform seeks to create awareness on safety regulations for road users, educate them on their responsibilities and sensitize drivers on the rules and regulations.

“We need to identify areas such as the motorway, highways, ceremonial streets and some parts of the urban centers and restrict the operations of okada at these areas,” he said.

Mr Mensah said the okada business provided some economic benefits for the country and could not be totally done away with.

He noted that some tricycles on the highways also contributed to the carnage on the roads, which became a burden on the state.

He urged journalist to advocate road safety issues in their various communities to educate the public on the need to contribute their quota to reduce accidents.

Mr Francis Ameyibor, the Tema Regional Manager, GNA, said road safety was a shared responsibility and Ghanaians should prioritise their safety when using the roads.

"No single individual can say that he or she does not use the road, we are all road users, either as a passenger, a driver or a pedestrian, a cyclist or motor rider,” he said.

He urged Ghanaians to rise-up and help in the fight against road accidents, saying; “Let us all fight against the carnage on our roads. Let us stop road accidents and join forces to fight for safer roads”.