The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) says restrictions on the use of tricycles in the central business district of Kumasi will still be enforced despite the protest by the riders. 

Ms. Henrietta Afia Konadu, Public Relations Officer of the Assembly, told the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi that the decision of the Assembly was final. 

She, therefore, advised members of the Pragyia Workers Association of Ghana, to desist from any act of lawlessness, which could lead to their arrest and prosecution. 

Reacting to the protest and blockade of some major routes in Kumasi by the riders in protest of the ban, Madam Konadu said no amount of protest could reverse the decision of the assembly. 

She stated that anyone who flouted the ban would be dealt with according to the rules and regulations of the assembly.     

The restrictions, according to Ms Konadu, were to ensure discipline, security and also ease traffic congestion in the main central business district of Kumasi. 

The ban imposed by the assembly took effect on August 1, 2023. 

The aim is to ease vehicular and pedestrian congestion, which had characterized the central business district, especially Kejetia, Adum, Alabar, Dr Mensah and others. 

However, the riders, who have formed the Pragyia Workers Association of Ghana, took to the streets and blocked the main Suame-Roundabout to Kejetia route, resulting in a heavy vehicular traffic. 

Read more: Tricycle riders block Kumasi roads to protest ban

It took the police a hectic time to disperse the angry protesters, who claimed the ban was an attempt by the KMA to deprive them of their livelihoods. 

According to them, they were not responsible for the traffic congestion at Kejetia, but rather, it was the construction of the New Kejetia market by the Assembly, on a place dedicated to serving as a lorry terminal.