Motorcycle taxi operators given 6 months to get licences

Government has given motorcycle taxi operators six months to get training and licences to reduce road accidents.

The development follows an earlier decision to bar the operators from using unregistered motorcycles which led them to demonstrate last month.

Minister of Homeland Security Richard Chimwendo Banda and Police Inspector General George Kainja yesterday engaged the operators and resolved to give them operators six months to register their motorcycles, get training and licences.

In the first half of this year alone,  206 people are reported to have died in accidents involving motorcycles.

Chimwendo Banda said there is need for operators to observe the law to help reduce road accidents.

He said government will give back 7 821 motorcycles that were seized nationwide by police earlier.

“The operators will have to get provisional licences within one month so that they are able to use the roads.  Government wants to ensure safety of the operators and others while they conduct their businesses,” said Chimwendo Banda.

The minister further said government has made an arrangement to have the operators trained at a reduced fee of K20 000 following operators’ protests that they could not afford the training fee which was pegged at K150 000.

The operators will be trained within the districts they operate in and apart from licences they will also have to register and insure their motorcycles, said Chimwendo Banda.

On his part, Kainja said the operators have created business and employment of many people, but there is need to ensure safety of the operators, passengers and pedestrians.

He said: “But there was recklessness in operating of the businesses and the police were forced to impound the motorcycles.