The Upper East Regional Security Council and the Bawku Municipal Security Council has announced that with effect from Saturday May 28, 2010, women in the Bawku Municipality and its surroundings can ride motorbikes and bicycles for their errands, after a one and a half month ban on riding motorbikes. The Information Services Department in Bawku announced this to the surprise of residents last Friday, especially as many calls on the REGSEC and MUSEC were not responded to while residents had to suffer the pain of walking to work and other important places. Even though women have the liberty to ride motorbikes, the permit does not allow them to give any man a lift under any circumstance since the announcement added that any woman found to have allowed a man to sit on her motorbike will have it seized and be arrested. Since April this year, the Bawku Municipality has been plagued by killings and violence which the security suspected were done by persons who moved from place to place on motor bikes, for which reason they are always able to escape by the time security personnel get to the crime scene. Though many complaints were made to the two security bodies and even the National Security that the ban on the riding of motorbikes in the municipality was really affecting businesses and government work in the area, security authorities maintained that the ban was the best for the area, considering the level of crime then. Kusasi communities that are far from town complained that since the ban on motorbikes was imposed, they have lost some of their relations who fell ill, due to their inability to transport them to the hospitals which. They explained that they had to carry them on their backs to the hospital, only to realize their relatives had passed away even before they got to the hospital. Mamprusis, who are mostly located in town, also complained of their inability to move around town to do their business, thus causing the collapse of their business. The security authorities say they will monitor the situation and ensure that only women ride their motor bikes. Source: Daily Guide