Member of Parliament (MP) for the Adaklu Constituency in the Volta Region, Kwame Governs Agbodza has asserted that the booming Okada business provides more jobs than Ghana’s public sector.
According to the politician, the Okada business is well placed in the system and is now an integral part of the country’s economy.
Speaking to Happy 98.9 FM’s Samuel Eshun, host of the Happy Morning Show, Kwame Agbodza said, “Okada riders are more than public sector workers. They are more than people on the government’s payroll. This is not documented but when you come to Adaklu for instance, Okada riders are more than nurses and teachers put together. It is assumed that 800,000 people are engaged in the Okada business but the number can be more”.
Furthering his point, the MP also made known that Okada riders earn more than the youth employed under the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO)
“Okada is a better option compared to NABCO. They make as much as Ghc200 per day whereas NABCO pays the youth GHc700 per month”.
Defending the legalization of Okada, the NDC’s spokesperson on Infrastructure noted that Okada does not cause congestion in urban centres and provides numerous advantages to users. “There are places motorbikes can go that cars can’t.
He challenged engineers arguing, the need for a special lane for motorbikes insisting they can ride in the same lanes as cars. “They’re not bicycles”.
When asked how the party would regulate the Okada business, Kwame Agbodza motioned, “We have teachers and Nurses who are licensed to work and the same will be done for Okada riders to regulate the number of people who engage in the business”.
He admitted that the government will still look at improving other means of transportation regardless of making Okada legal.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) at their manifesto launch promised to legalize the use of Okada for commercial purposes should they win at the December 7 polls and this has garnered both support and criticism.
More than 350,000 workers including 54,000 health workers, 45,000 teachers and 100,000 Nation Builders Corp (NABCO) personnel have been recruited into the public sector in the two years of the Akufo Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration in 2019.
By: Joel Sanco
