Chairman of the Ghana Committed Drivers Association (CDAG), Charles Danso, has revealed that the Association has increased transport fares in the country.
According to him, the struggles and hardships drivers go through to make ends meet on a daily basis coupled with rising cost of fuel have influenced the decision of the Association to increase transport fare. Mr Danso pleaded to the public to understand drivers’ predicament and pay because it will be a non-starter for the drivers to bear the brunt of the fuel prices alone.
“It’s happening… It is being assumed that whenever the fuel component or fuel prices hits 10%, [the fare increases]. The other time we increased lorry fare, it was 13% and we now have 32% on fuel now since the [last] time we increased lorry fare… We see the needs and the hardship in this country and ‘we say 30% [is too high]’. So, what should we do again? Day in, day out they are increasing fuel prices, even yesterday it [shot] to GHS36 per gallon, whereas the time we increased lorry fare, it was GHS26. So, the GHS10 difference, who should bear it? Are we not trading?”.
Charles Danso
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has announced that commuters should expect an increment in transport fares from Saturday, February 26, 2022. Speaking in an interview, the Union’s Public Relations Officer, Imoro Abbas intimated that the Union is currently engaging government on what percentage the upward adjustment should be. According to him, although they requested for 30 per cent increment and subsequently reducing it to 20 per cent, “government stuck to 10 per cent” of which the Union asked for more.
Commenting on whether the GPRTU subscribes to CDAG’s decision to increase fuel prices by 30 percent effective today, Mr Danso explained that the Association isn’t part of the GPRTU but operates as a separate union. He noted that it has formed a “coalition and it’s about seventeen unions and associations” which make up that coalition.
Transport fare increased by 30 percent
The CDAG chairman recounted that following the strike action by the Coalition of Private Transport Operators which happened in December last year, the coalition elected some “three wise men” made up of Abass Imoro, a representative of the coalition, Ibrahim Musa and Edward Huffman, from “cooperatives”, who were responsible for bringing a stipulated percentage of “30 percent” for drivers to implement. Following this, Mr Danso expressed concern over GPRTU’s current reluctance to accept the latest percentage on transportation.
“Since we brought that 30% at the meeting, they’ve increased about twice on the fuel. Everything is going up, so why should you keep drivers in limbo like this? So, we’ve increased it and if GPRTU says no, they should either put white cloth or red cloth on their car so everybody will know this is GPRTU car [to inform them] if they are going to pick it, they haven’t increased [the fare]”.
Charles Danso
The Government and commercial transport operators are currently holding contrary views on what should be an appropriate percentage for the increment in transport fares which is expected to take effect in the coming weeks. While the Coalition of Private Transport Operators proposed an increment of not less than 20 per cent, government is pushing for a 10 per cent increment.
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