Okada Riders Celebrate Passage of Bill Legalising Their Operations
- Ghana's Parliament has passed a bill legalising the use of motorcycles, tricycles, and quadricycles for commercial purposes
- The Road Traffic Amendment Bill 2025 also introduces a stricter alcohol limit for drivers to combat drunk driving instances
- The Okada Riders Association welcomed the bill as a step to better regulation and an improved image for commercial riders
The Parliament of Ghana on Thursday, December 11, 2025, passed the Road Traffic Amendment Bill 2025.
The passage of the bill will formally legalise the use of motorcycles (popularly known as okada), tricycles, and quadricycles for commercial purposes.
Source: Facebook
Recently laid before the House by the Minister of Transport, Joseph Bukari Nikpe, the bill also sets a higher limit for the determination of alcohol concentration in drivers to reduce incidents of drunk driving and accidents resulting from it.
The Road Traffic Amendment Bill 2025 is expected to create employment for Ghana's teeming youth, improve road safety, and offer comprehensive regulation of the road transport industry.
Okada riders hail passage of bill
Reacting to this, the Okada Riders Association hailed the passage of the bill as a step towards operationalising the job.
Speaking on Citi FM, the Public Relations Officer of the association, Solomon Akpenaba, said the move would help streamline operations and improve the image of commercial riders.
"The riders were operating without unions and even without uniforms. However, the government then announced that it would put these people in uniform and regularise them. From now on, we will be upgrading our services.
"You can easily identify those who are okada riders and those who are not, even just by looking at our registration number plates. So, by 2026, the robbers who operate with motorbikes, and then we all get blamed, will come to an end, and people will know that we are not all the same," he added.
President Mahama fulfils promise to okada riders
The passage of the bill was done in fulfilment of President Mahama's promise to commercial motorcycle operators in Ghana.
While campaigning to be elected as President of Ghana in the 2024 elections, the then-candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) pledged to legalise the operations of okada for commercial purposes.
This, he said at the time, would be aimed at creating more employment opportunities for Ghanaian youth.
In response to this promise, the Okada Riders Association declared their support for the NDC and joined the party to canvass for votes across every nook and cranny of Ghana.
On the day of the 2024 elections, December 7, 2024, the riders played a major role in the NDC's victory, offering their services to transport voters to and from remote and hard-to-reach areas to cast their ballots.
With Parliament paving the way to make their operations legal, the okada riders will now be expecting President Mahama to assent to the Road Traffic Amendment Bill 2025 as soon as it reaches his desk.
Source: Facebook
Sam George rescues okada courier operators
YEN.com.gh also previously reported that Sam George, the Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovation, had halted the enforcement of the regulation requiring okada courier riders to have licenses.
The Ghana Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission began targeting unlicensed courier operators on August 20, 2025, with the minister stating that enforcement had been halted amid complaints from couriers.
Proofreading by Bruce Douglas, copy editor at YEN.com.gh.
Source: YEN.com.gh
