Ghana driver unions divided over proposed transport fares

Driver unions in Ghana are sharply divided as a section of the unionized coalition has broken ranks to announce a 30 percent increment in the fares despite an engagement with the government.

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) for instance has announced that commuters should expect an increment in transport fares from Saturday, February 26.

The Union’s Public Relations Officer, Imoro Abbas said they are currently engaging government on what percentage the upward adjustment should be.

“We have no choice because we initially asked for government to scrap some of the taxes, but they were not prepared to do that. So we have no option but to come out with an upward adjustment to lorry fares,” he told JoyNews on Thursday.

He further noted that the leadership of the GPRTU will meet government again since disagreements over the percentage increment have resulted in most of their meetings ending inconclusively.

“We asked for 30 per cent increment, finally we were down to 20 per cent but government stuck to 10 per cent of which we asked for more.

“Fortunately for us, there has been another upward adjustment of prices at the fuel pumps. So next week, we are going back and with what is happening now, when we go into the meeting, we will get a good rate for our people,” he noted.

But the Private Commercial Transport Operators has declared that effective Friday, February 18, transport fares would be increased by 30 percent.

According to the transport owners, the decision is to save transport businesses from collapsing given the frequent upward adjustments in fuel prices.

The development clearly shows there would be more confusion at lorry stations if this latest increment takes effect.