INFLUX OF OKADA in Ho Municipal District

 

Ho is a town and the capital city of Ho Municipal District and the Volta region of southeast Ghana. Ho lies between Mount Adaklu and Mount Galenukui (Togo Atakora Range), and is home to a museum, a cathedral, and a large prison.

Ho is the sixteenth most populous settlement in Ghana, in terms of population with a population of 96213 people. (www.wikipedia.com, July 2013)

Two-wheeled motorcycles as means of passenger transport has been in increase in Ghana. Two-wheel motorcycles popularly called “okada” or “express” have become an important means of passenger transportation in Ho municipality.

 Motorcycle (two wheeled machine) was introduced to carry two persons, operator inclusive (Dr Abimbola and Dele Yaro).  It started as common mode of intra-city transport in the northern areas of Ghana partly due to inadequate transport facilities and the nature of these areas. However, this mode of transportation has spread to the cities in other parts of the country where it is now used for intra-city movement of people on commercial basis. The use of this mode as an intra-city means of passenger movement became prevalent over the last few years consequent upon the unfavourable economic condition. The assumption therefore is that this mode of transport, evolved as a public commercial transport within cities, in response to perceived demand.          

 It is against this background that this paper seeks to understand the increase in the usage of motorcycle as a commercial transport, including why and how they operate. In addition to whether the community wants them or not.

 

What Ghana and Nigeria do have in common is high unemployment rates and heavy vehicular congestion, two recipes that tickle the business, which only requires a motorbike to begin. It is perhaps these two factors that explain the growing okada business, especially in Ho, in spite of a ban and the prosecution of some okada riders. One would have to go back to Nigerian history to understand the name ‘okada’. It was coined from the defunct Okada Airline that used to operate quick-fix operations of flying passengers from one airport to the other. This was contrary to the go-slow operations that the equally defunct Nigeria Airways was operating. In its time, Okada Air was the most popular Nigerian local airline, but was not known for its comfort. The motorcycle transport was nicknamed after the airline because riders could manoeuvre through the heavy traffic of Lagos and take passengers to their destinations in a timely manner, in the same way as the airline (Bentil, 2013).

Today, the okada business has become a means of survival for most unemployed youth, whose livelihood depend heavily on the proceeds made from the trade (Bentil, 2013).

For now, these youth would have to contend with officials of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service, as they now have the legal backing to arrest and prosecute those plying the trade. As the situation stands now, the MTTU is set to engage in a protracted battle on okada. It appears that this war would be an interesting one, indeed, as the MTTU tries to enforce the law, whilst the okada riders work for survival (Bentil, 2013).