'Okada' riders age qualification to reduce from 25 to 21 years - Transport Minister
The age limit qualification for 'Okada' riders is to be reduced from 25 to 21 years in the preparation of a legislation to make commercial motor riding legal in Ghana.
The Minister of Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe has explained that he has prepared a memo for cabinet approval in that respect.
This, he said, was following public concerns expressed about the earlier age qualification limit, which was set at 25.
Already, commercial bus and taxi drivers require an age limit qualification of 25 to be able to drive.
In line with that, the Ministry of Transport had proposed the same age limit for commercial motor riders (Okada) in the proposal to legalise it.
But the association of motor riders had raised concerns that the 25 years limit was going to deny many of their members the opportunity to obtain riding licences.
The minister explaining said the proposed 25 years age limit will leave many young people jobless.
He was speaking on the sidelines of the Transport and Logistics sector chief exectives' breakfast meeting.
He indicated that the concerns for the age limit have been addressed in a memo sent to the Cabinet for approval.
"Our laws indicate that before you can do any commercial business, you should be aged 25 and we cannot take Okada riders alone out of that law.
"And so it has taken us back for me to prepare and send another amendment and so, I have presented it to Cabinet for us to look at how we will look at the age in general for commercial purposes and bring it down from 25 to 21 because within the stakeholder consultations we have had, everybody is recommending that we should look at the age limit of 25 and bring it down to 21. So I have just submitted a memo to Cabinet for approval and very soon, if it is approved, we will take it on board so that the law will be amended in that totality to also reduce the age of doing commercial business when it comes to driving and motorcycle riding," the Transport Minister said.
