A political scientist and director for the Center for European Studies (CES) at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah Asante, has called on government to find lasting solution to transport hikes necessitated by rise in fuel prices.

According to him, the recurring nature of the problem goes on to affect the public who have to bear the brunt of paying higher charges in transport fares. Dr Asante explained that there is the urgent need for government and stakeholders to address the challenge to alleviate the plight of individuals.

His comments follow the 15% increment of transport fares by transport operators who attribute the hike to the increase in the price of fuel and the economic hardship in the country.

“You know we have said it time and again that we need to find lasting solutions to these problems because fuel is everything. So, once there’s a problem, it trickles down and it affects everybody. I believe that going forward, we need to have a body that can look at this thing, take on board every important aspect of it so that we will deal with this problem once and for all. My worry is that, we fix it at a point and another time it comes up; it becomes difficult for us to address it. But I know that the stakeholders should be able to address this at least once and for all… so that [we] will have some breather so far as transportation is concerned. Let us remember that, there are a lot of people who don’t have their own means of transport and they rely on public transport”.
Dr Kwame Asah Asante

Rejection of UTAG’s strike suspension

On Monday, February 23, 2022, the University of Education, Winneba Chapter of UTAG, voted against its National Executive Committee’s decision to suspend the strike. The Vice President of UTAG-UEW, Dr. Pascal Kpodo, revealed that his side is waiting for the other campuses to vote on the matter within the stipulated five days.

Commenting on the rejection of UTAG’s strike suspension by the University of Education, Winneba, Dr Asah Asante revealed that it is well within its right to do that. He intimated that per the UTAG’s constitution, whenever a decision of NEC is taken, it needs to go back to its“constituencies” and get confirmation or rejection on that matter.

“Yesterday, Legon had its fair share of this process. We had a meeting and the meeting did not end, it will continue today. So, I’m sure at the end of all the consultation and meetings across the various constituencies, a firm decision will be taken in line with the rule of law and the dictates of UTAG’s constitution as well”.
Dr Kwame Asah Asante

Dr Asah Asante expressed that since the process is subject to voting, the outcome cannot be predicted.

“So, you can’t know what one school will do. So, let us wait for the outcome of such voting and then we will know definitely where the position of the UTAG is”.
Dr Kwame Asah Asante