Owners of unlicensed motorcycles in the Kumasi metropolis will be given a 30-day grace period to get them registered, Ashanti Regional Minister Simon Osei-Mensah has disclosed.

In an interview on Adehye FM in Kumasi on Tuesday March 21, Mr Osei-Mensah said he, in concert with the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), was drawing up a number of measures to improve the general security situation in the region, specifically Kumasi.

He announced that spots known to be targeted by criminals in Kumasi at night would be provided with streetlights, with increased police patrols in some areas, adding that security was also being tightened to curb armed robbery in the metropolis.

Concerning increased criminal activity involving motorbikes and cars, the Minister spelt out measures to address the situation.

“Another policy that will soon be rolled out is to give all persons who have unlicensed motorbikes in Kumasi up to a month to license such vehicles. If you do not license it within that one month and you are arrested and your documents show you have owned that motorbike for more than one month, we’ll seize it, because many people use unregistered motorbikes and cars to commit crimes,” he noted.

He admitted that though some offences in the region involve registered vehicles, “most often the ones used in crimes are unlicensed vehicles and motorbikes”, adding: “So we are coming to get rid of those.”

The exercise, he added, would be extended to persons who use cars with DVLA plates for several years as well as other West African nationals using foreign-registered number plates who overstay the 90-day period allowed for use of such cars in the country and refuse to register with Ghanaian authorities, revealing that there were many of such persons who have managed to continue using such cars in the country for years by simply driving across the border to get their passports stamped and return to the country to begin another cycle.

“We don’t entertain those tricks and we are not going to entertain those tricks,” he promised.