Every morning, Bukari Rahinatu used to ride through clouds of exhaust on her way to work in Ghana’s northeast town bordering Burkina Faso and Togo. The 25-year-old graduate from th
The report indicates that every morning, Bukari Rahinatu used to ride through clouds of exhaust on her way to work in Ghana’s northeast town bordering Burkina Faso and Togo.
It further notes that the 25-year-old graduate from the University of Education, Winneba, says the smoke from fuel-powered motorbikes became part of daily life in the busy northern town. By the time she arrived at work, she often felt irritated and uncomfortable.
“Sometimes I would cough after riding for long,” Rahinatu says. “You could smell the smoke everywhere.”
That changed when she switched to an electric bike.
“Now I don’t inhale the smoke anymore,” she says with a smile. “The ride is quieter, and I feel better.”
Rahinatu is part of a small but growing shift in Bawku, where electric bikes are gradually changing how people experience their daily journeys.
The change did not come through any formal government policy. After years of tribal conflict in the area authorities imposed security restrictions on petrol-fueled motorbikes, which were widely seen as facilitating fast-moving attacks.
But without the bikes daily life for traders, students, and workers became impossible. More and more people started turning to e-bikes – which were not banned – as an alternative means of transport.
At the centre of the shift is Hakeem Girma, a teacher and CEO of M. Sniff Business Hub, who began importing electric bikes into Bawku in 2023 after he saw a business opportunity in the disruptions caused by the motorbike ban.
Having seen electric bikes during trips to China, Girma says he believed they could provide residents with a practical and affordable way to move around. As transport challenges worsened, demand for the bikes grew.
The shift has happened quietly over time. E-bikes have begun to reshape local mobility. Residents who have switched to electric bikes say daily travel now feels noticeably different. Many describe quieter rides, easier breathing and evenings that no longer end with coughing, chest discomfort or exhaustion. Although no formal air-quality studies have been carried out in Bawku, riders say the change is already being felt in their bodies, homes and everyday lives.
Girma says the business is now about more than profit. “My goal is not just to sell bikes. I want to improve the health of our town.”
He says he is pleased to see changes for parents who once struggled to take their children to school without passing through heavy smoke. “Now children walk in cleaner air.”
Trader, Basheru Shafawu Kazusa, says she is already noticing a difference. “The electric bike allows me to move freely, and I feel healthier already.”
