Former Minority Chief Whip and Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak, has waded into the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly’s (KMA’s) ban on the operation of tricycles (otherwise known as Aboboya) in the Kumasi metropolis.
According to him, the KMA – as a matter of urgency – needs to sit down with the agitating tricycle operators and more importantly too, revise the ban.
The Asawase lawmaker’s call for revision of the ban was premised because the ongoing scuffle between the city authorities and the Aboboya operators was likely to affect peace and security in the area.
Mr. Muntaka made the call while speaking on Eye Witness on Citi FM in Accra which was monitored by DAILY Analyst.
“What you are saying is that you don’t want them to work because when you say don’t come into the inner city, where will they get passengers?” he quizzed.
He, therefore, admonished the KMA to hasten slowly, especially when many of the youth did not have jobs.
He said the situation could have a spillover effect which consequences could be dire for the nation.
Furthermore, Mr. Muntaka described the number of youths who poured onto the streets of Kumasi last Wednesday to protest the ban as “scary,” and said it must be handled with care so as not to incur harmful outcomes.
“What I saw on Wednesday morning, nothing is scarier than that because there was massive traffic as almost every major street in the area was blocked as a result of the tricycle operators’ protests and so I will advise the city authorities to meet them halfway because there are good guys among them who are using this business to take care of themselves and their families,” he noted.
It would be recalled that the KMA on July 25, 2023, began enforcing the ban against tricycle usage in the central business district, which it said was hindering business activities in the area.
The enforcement was intensified on August 1, 2023, leading to the arrest of some defiant operators and a scuffle between the police and angry operators, some of whose tricycles were seized.