The Public Relations Officer for the Okada Riders Association, Solomon Akpanaba has warned that any attempts by the government to clamp down their activities will make the government unpopular.
He added that there have been previous attempts to stop their work. However, these were unsuccessful.
“If the government tries to clamp down Okada riders, it will suffer. There was a time that the Ghana Armed Forces were tasked to stop our work but they couldn’t stop us. It will only make the government unpopular because it will increase hardships. A lot of motor riders will resort to crime if their source of income is ended. So, it will never be possible for the government to end the Okada business,” he told Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show.
As part of processes to phase out the commercial motorcycle business also known as ‘okada’ government through the Coastal Development Authority (CODA) launched an initiative christened “CODA Drive” to empower operators of commercial motorcycles to own Bajaj Qute vehicles through a hire purchase agreement with CODA.
Under the initiative, operators of commercial motorcycles are to bring their motorcycles for the CODA vehicle and pay for it in instalments.
However, the Okada Riders Association says its members will reject the quadricycles offered to commercial motorbike riders under the CODA Drive initiative.