Commercial motorbike riders in Ghana will have to belong to a registered union or company to operate legally from 1 January 2027, National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) head Abraham Amaliba has said.
Amaliba, the NRSA’s Director-General, said the authority would stop registering individual okada riders altogether. It will deal only with recognised unions and companies. “So I am going to register only unions and companies,” he said on Joy Prime’s Dialogue on Road Safety Crisis programme.
The change closes the door on a rider who owns a motorbike and simply walks in to register it. Every legal okada will be traceable through an organisation, and Amaliba said this is meant to create a clearer chain of accountability.
Under the arrangement, the NRSA will send the details of union members to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA). The DVLA will then register their motorcycles and issue licences and number plates.
Amaliba said the regulated system would be formally launched in the last quarter of 2026. The NRSA will place adverts inviting unions to register before the regime takes effect. Asked for a start date, he said it begins on 1 January.
The plan builds on the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill, 2025. Parliament passed it on 11 December 2025 under a certificate of urgency to amend the Road Traffic Act, 2004 (Act 683). The bill allows motorcycles, tricycles and quadricycles to be used for commercial purposes, which the law had previously barred. It prohibits riders from carrying fare-paying passengers unless the motorcycle is licensed and meets the requirements set by the licensing and regulatory authorities.
The bill divided the House. A Minority MP said its passage fulfilled a major campaign promise the government made before the 2024 election. The Minority also argued that the move was driven more by a manifesto pledge than by concern for road safety. Some lawmakers warned that legalising okada without strict enforcement could worsen road safety.
Amaliba has signalled the union-only model for more than a year. In early 2025, while still acting Director-General, he said riders would not be allowed to operate on their own. He said they would be issued uniforms and reflectors, that both riders and passengers would wear a prescribed type of helmet, and that riders would receive road safety training before the DVLA issued them specialised number plates.
On the same Joy Prime programme, he called on the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service to step up enforcement against commercial drivers who operate outside recognised terminals and unions. He said unions should regulate their own members inside the terminals, leaving the MTTD to deal with operators outside them.
