Legalising “okada” is a lazy man’s recipe for growth, says Sylvester Tetteh
The chief executive of the NYA has been responding to the NDC flagbearer about his campaign promise to legalise okadas if elected president
Sylvester Tetteh, chief executive officer of the National Youth Authority (NYA) has described the legalization of the operations of commercial motorcycles, popularly known as “okada”, as a lazy man’s approach to addressing youth unemployment.
He said the rollout and expansion of government’s One District, One Factory (1D1F), Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) and various initiatives under the National Youth Authority will create better opportunities to address youth unemployment.
Speaking in an interview with Nana Yaa Mensah on The Asaase Breakfast Show, Tetteh said there are better alternatives which can be explored than okada.
Enabling environment
“Put them together and tell them there is a better alternative and see if they will pick ‘okada’ and ride. The better alternative is the ‘One District, One Factory’, is to expand and industrialise the economy to create more jobs and train more people.
“Even to manufacture and fix, welding, now cars are being assembled here and we need people with skilled labour, we need people to be trained in metal works, we need people to be trained in fabrication, these people can be employed, he said.
Sylvester Tetteh said the employment of over 900 youths through the establishment of a diaper factory in the Ga South Municipality of the Greater Accra Region and the possible roll-out of such initiative as crucial to reducing unemployment in the country.
“What it means is that there is still more room for improvement, so create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive, for the private sector to take over. Government alone cannot employ. The lazy man’s approach is to say that go ride okada. If every young man is riding ‘okada’, who will pick who? There will be chaos.”
Opposing views
John Mahama, the NDC flagbearer, last month promised to legalise okadas if elected in the December election.
Mahama’s promise has since generated a heated national debate about the advantage and disadvantage of legalising the commercial motorcycle business.
Other bodies such as the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) and the Bureau of Public Safety have all waded into the okada argument.
Whiles the Ghana Medical Association believes okadas should not be legalised, the Bureau of Public Safety believes it could be ban in cities such as Accra but be allowed to operate in rural areas where they play a much crucial role.
“Okada” accidents
Maxwell Osei Ampofo, head of the emergency and medicine directorate at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, told The Asaase Breakfast Show that 30% of okada-related accidents in the country lead to death.
He said available data shows the Ashanti Region alone recorded 381 motorcycle-related accidents, representing 21.2% of total injuries between January and August this year.
The trend also shows the Ashanti Region recorded 835 motorcycle accidents in 2018 (20.2% of the total number of injuries) and that the figure went up slightly to 882 cases in 2019 (20.4% of total injuries).
Fred Dzakpata
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