The fuel tanker operators in Ghana have declared a strike over the poor conditions of the roads across the country.
The strike commenced on Monday, June 26, with drivers operating within the Tema Heavy Industrial area demanding that the roads be awarded to a contractor before they can cart any fuel.
“We are not saying they should fix the road entirely but we want to see machines on the road then we can calm down a little bit that indeed, they have started doing something,” one of the tanker drivers, Dr. George Nyaonu said.
“Already, the roads are so bad; I mean can you imagine if for instance an LPG tanker is involved in an accident in this enclave and there is an explosion, there’ll be a loss of lives and there’ll be a lot of properties which are going to be in danger.
“So we are urging the government to urgently attend to the needs of the drivers so that they can return to work and supply the much-needed fuel that we need to power our nation. Already, the economy is struggling so we wouldn’t want to see any shortage of fuel which in the long run negatively affect the economy”, he added.
The strike is already impacting the businesses of traders within the enclave, and there are fears that there could be a shortage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and petrol as a result.
The LPG Marketers Association has warned the government to urgently address the tanker drivers’ demands to avert any potential crisis that may arise from the strike.
The Association’s Vice President, Gabriel Kumi, has also emphasised the need to address the bad roads in the enclaves as they could cause explosions that could be devastating.
By Vincent Kubi