John Dramani Mahama has revisited the use of motorcycles for commercial purposes, popularly referred to as the okada business.

The issue was a major campaign point in the 2020 election with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) promising to legalize it because of its employment potential.

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), however, said legalization was not an option especially because of the safety issues and that they were going to provide mini-cars as a safer alternative to okada.

"The okada thing, if we do win, it is going to be in our manifesto again. We are going to regulate it like it has been done in other countries. The riders are going to be taught methods of safe riding," Mahama affirmed in an interview with TV3.

He posited that unregulated okada use "comes with risks," adding: "We’ve just behaved like ostriches and buried our heads in the sand but you can’t stop it.

"It is a source of income for many young people…. If we regulate it we can identify every motorbike and every rider and know who is using it for crime," he added.

Okada is currently illegal under Ghanaian laws.

SARA

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