Bawku: Assembly Members want ban on Motorbike lifted

Assembly members serving in the Bawku Municipal Assembly have called on the security agencies to consider lifting the ban on motorbikes on Bawku and its environs, because of the harm and hardships of the ban on the residents.

The Assembly members made the call during the first ordinary general meeting of the fourth session of the Bawku Municipal Assembly at Bawku to affirm their decision to take on any group which failed to see the assembly as the highest decision-making body.

They argued that the motor ban against men was overdue, and did not serve its purpose anymore, because it had become a threat to development in the area.

The Assembly members were unhappy with the Upper East Regional Security Council (RESEC) and the Bawku Municipal Security Committee (MUSEC) for turning down their request to review the four-year ban on motor riding on men in the Municipality.

The Assembly members noted that they had repeatedly made recommendations at various platforms, including assembly meetings for the REGSEC and MUSEC to consider the review of the ban, but stakeholders on the issue seemed to take the plight of the people for granted.

Mr David Adoliba, Presiding Member (PM) of the Assembly, who read a speech on behalf of members, indicated that decisions made by Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies were crucial to the overall development of the nation.

He said laws were made to serve as corrective measures, and not punishment, and indicated that members have the strong conviction that some group of persons were deliberately undermining the fundamental human rights of the people of Bawku.

The PM disclosed that the level of productivity in all the sectors, including education, health and the general socio-economic life of the people, had reduced, as a result of the motor bike ban in the area, citing poor performance in the BECE for some years now because teachers could not go to school on time to teach and supervise.

He lamented the effects of the ban on education and health, and said even circuit supervisors at the Ghana Education Service could not ride motorbikes to their various circuits, to monitor and supervise teachers to spend their contact hours well with the students.

Mr Adoliba stated that if there should be any hope for good standards of education in the area, then, the review of the ban on motor bikes, must be given a second look, to allow men to also use it.

On effects of the ban on health, Mr Adoliba said a number of people have lost their lives as a result of the ban on motor riding on men, because people who fall sick cannot be rushed to health facilities since the motor was the only and reliable means of transport in the area.

He stressed the need to lift the ban, since it was not an Act of Parliament, but just a by-law which has finished serving its purpose, and has become a nuisance to the people to whom it came to serve.

The Presiding Member called on the President to intervene and expedite action on lifting the ban on motorbike riding in the area, because it was now a source of worry to the people.

The Assembly Members indicated that decisions they made were outcomes of contributions from the people at the grassroots, and said it was those decisions they took that guided government to consider policies for implementation for the nation.

The Assembly Members urged government to take policies made by the MMDAs serious, and implement them to strengthen their constitutional role in the local government concept.