Aboboya has become a menace accounting for some of the accidents on Ghana’s major roads
• The use of aboboyaa (tricycle) must not be entirely banished in Ghana, a governance expert has opined
• Eric Oduro Osae has suggested aboboyaa works best and serves as convenience on less busy roads
• The use of aboboyaa continues to be a menace contributing to some of the accidents on major roads across the country
Governance expert, Eric Oduro Osae, has advocated against the ban on tricycles suggesting that government controls its use.
“I will call more for their regulation than completely abandoning or banning their operation,” he said in an interview on Asaase Radio.
Greater Accra Minister, Henry Quartey, has vowed to make the capital city, Accra, the cleanest city in Africa.
He met with members of the Accra Parliamentary Caucus of both NPP and NDC, Council of State, the Ghana Police Service, Transport Unions, DVLA, GUTA, Traditional Authority and other stakeholders to conclude stakeholder consultations for a Bye-Law to revive and ensure strict compliance and enforcement of the Road Traffic Regulations (2012) LI 2180.
The law, according to the minister, is to prevent3 motorbike riders, abandoned vehicles on streets, and also ban tricycles (Aboboyaa) from using the Highways and Principal streets in the Greater Accra Region.
But Eric Oduro Osai disagreed with the ban stating that the use of tricycles, popularly referred to as ‘aboboyaa’ comes in handy in areas where other vehicles find difficult to use.
He believes aboboyaa is beneficial for the transporting of passengers and carting goods reiterating that a total ban is not the best.
“No, it will not augur well for us…You will agree with me that those main roads may not be as busy like the Accra-Kumasi road… so those ones we can restrict them.”
He, however, agreed that allowing them to operate in the city centres is “an eyesore, in this day and age when Ghana is even a lower-middle level income country, these things should not be allowed.”
Mr Osae called for a national dialogue on the matter to reach an agreement on areas that can be used “so it will not endanger the lives of users, the drivers and other motorists.”