We are not bankrupt with ideas - NDC reacts to govt’s U-turn on Okada legalization

The opposition National Democratic Congress has said the sudden change in the position of government on the legalization of the Okada business proves that the party is not bankrupt when it comes to formulating good policy ideas.

Last week, the ministry of transport in a release said it was going to begin the second phase of an already started consultation exercise aimed at seeing through the legalization of motorbikes for commercial purposes.

Reacting to the development which has largely been described by the NDC as a U-turn by government forced by its manifesto promise, the National Youth Organiser of the Party, George Opare Addo says the action by government is an endorsement of the NDC’s policy formulation competency.

“The NDC is happy, Okada riders are Ghanaians. They are people with equal rights and should be treated as such. So if today the NPP government led by his Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa who for a minute said it was not possible, it is not feasible and that they were not going to do it has seen wisdom in what the NDC is saying and they are now going to regularize it and make it legal it is all the better. At least we are a government in waiting and we’ve proposed. Manifestos are just promises, they are ideas to sell to the people and if today the NPP government thinks that it is prudent for them to implement it why not. At least the good people of this country will know that we are not bankrupt with ideas and we know which alternative is empty,” he told GhanaWeb in an interview.

On whether the New Patriotic Party government is truly willing and committed to seeing the legalization become a reality, George Opare Addo said’ “We are very confident we will win this election and for the NPP government, they have three more months to leave office and we know that in three months they cannot get a bill to parliament and get it regularize. If they start the process, when we come, we will continue. If they are able to complete it before we come the better and if they don’t, the NDC is telling the Okada rider that we will come and legalise and regularize the use of Okada as a means of transport in this country,” he stated.

The NDC in its 2020 manifesto has promised to make Okada legal if elected back into power in the December polls and it is on the back of this that the Ministry of Transport in its September 11, 2020 release, indicated that it had already commenced consultations into the legalization of the business whiles disclosing that it will begin the second phase of the consultation exercise in October.