Henry Quartey
The Minister for the Interior and Member of Parliament for the Ayawaso Constituency, Henry Quartey on Saturday organised an exercise to renew licences of commercial drivers within his constituency.
Five hundred beneficiaries who were registered for the gesture turned up for the exercise at the minister’s constituency office near Sadisco, Kokomlemle in Accra.
A mobile DVLA team was at hand to undertake the renewal exercise.
In a chat with the media, the minister said “Since charity begins at home, I thought it wise to carry out this exercise in my constituency so commercial drivers would have their expired licences renewed. This way they can carry on to render commuter services to residents within and without the constituency.”
The minister earlier led a team of officials to register the drivers who, according to him, numbered about 500, some of them belonging to the drivers’ union, prior to the renewal.
His answer to a question as to why he was doing this during an election year attracted this answer, “There is time for everything as contained in Ecclesiastes. Even in the US, campaign activities are ongoing because this is the time for it. In any case supporting the residents of my constituency is not a new thing. It is something I have been doing over time.”
He made reference to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) manifesto which captures the issue of the frequency of the renewal of drivers’ licences.
It was fun time as commercial drivers and their union leaders ate and exchanged pleasantries with each other.
Party faithful from the constituency were at hand to lend support to the exercise.
Moses Abor, the man who contested the constituency with Henry Quartey but lost, was visibly present busy supporting the exercise.
The minister spoke about government’s intention to play by the rules during the forthcoming election, but warned that lawlessness would not be condoned.
By A.R. Gomda