Member of Parliament (MP) for Asawase, Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak has urged tricycle operators to avoid taking the laws into their hands and comply with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly’s directive to restrict their movement in certain parts of the metropolis.
He has however assured of leading talks with city authorities to help address all concerns regarding the directive to ensure sanity in the region.
He expressed dissatisfaction about recent disturbances at the premises of the KMA that resulted in a clash between some tricycle operators who were demanding the release of impounded tricycles.
He warned the tricycle operators to refrain from attacking the police and state properties in trying to get their grievances addressed.
The Asawase MP who addressed scores of tricycle operators also called on city authorities to adopt a pragmatic approach to enforcing the directive.
“I personally agree that if you look at the way Kumasi is getting choked, if you look at the way our suburbs are getting choked, if you see the way some of the guys are driving the pragya, it is cause for concern. So it is very genuine. But what we should not lose sight of as leaders is that you don’t solve a problem by creating another problem. You try to solve the problem in a way that is a win-win situation.”
“And I keep saying that, what can we do to help? Yes, we cannot run away from the fact that many of them do that for a living… So, in trying to solve the problem as leaders, we need to be pragmatic so that we have a win-win. My suggestion has always been that, we cannot allow them to continue doing what they are doing, so what do we do to create some sanity? In my view, the easiest way is to introduce maybe congestion charges…for the trotro, pragya and the aboboyaa,” Mr Mubarak stated.
Public Relations Officers for the Tricycle Drivers Union, Al-Asbat Alhassan Sidi says they will continue engaging with city authorities and also advise their members to comply with the directive.
“We are grateful to our MP. Our next line of action will be to engage the KMA on how they will carry out their exercise as they said they will continue up to Friday. So we have to go to them and assist them so that they will be no chaos.”
“They should give us some directives to follow so that no one will lose out,” he stated.
