Members of the Gas Tanker Drivers Association have embarked on a sit-down strike over the failure of the authorities to address a plethora of their concerns.
The aggrieved drivers briefed the media at a presser in Tema on Wednesday, 22 July 2020. At the press briefing, they highlighted four cardinal issues which underscored their decision.
According them, their monthly salaries are “abysmal.” They concede that, even though they know this is due to the moratorium on the establishment of new gas stations because of the Atomic Junction gas explosion, the police in the Western and Central Regions are worsening their plight with constant harassment. They indicated that, the police in these areas have been demanding BNI and UPPF documents, which can only be accessed from Tema.
They complained that, because they are not able to produce these documents at the time of request by the police, some of the security personnel have been using that opportunity to extort between GHS200 and GHS1,000 from them or detain them unjustifiably.
Also, the angry gas drivers are calling on the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to halt the ongoing cylinder recirculation piloting exercise, describing it as a failure and wanton dissipation of state resources.
Instead, they are calling on the NPA to institute safety measures to strengthen the existing usage of gas cylinder.
The drivers say they will continue with their strike until the aforementioned issues are addressed.
Drivers of fuel vehicles have been raising a myriad of issues affecting their operations for a while now.
They took a similar action on Monday, 24 September 2018, over what they described as the National Petroleum Authority’s (NPA) failure to address their concerns.
These concerns at the time were about the NPA’s failure to implement the Petroleum Producers Transportation Delivery Retail and Loss Control Manual, which was formulated by the Energy Commission in 2004. This failure by the Authority, the drivers said was causing a loss of their earnings.
The drivers, numbering over 4,000, made it clear at the time that, they will park their tankers until the NPA addresses their concerns relating to their conditions of service and welfare.
The Western and Central Regions, which gas tanker drivers are raising concerns of police intimidation and abuse gained prominence in the AfricaReport in 2012, when petrol tanker drivers went on strike protesting against the poor road network in the main oil producing city of Takoradi.
The then chairman of the Ghana Petroleum Tankers Drivers Union, Henry Kwame Bobie Ansah, said that, the roads in the area were posing serious risk due to huge potholes.
Ansah told journalists that since fuel is a highly flammable product, it was not safe for them in case of an accident.
“That is why we have been complaining since last year to the Urban Roads Department to repair the gapping potholes, especially the one at the entrance of the link road towards the oil installations of Goil and Cirrus Oil Services to avert imminent disaster.”
