A threat issued by a group calling itself Concerned Drivers Association to the effect that they are going to increase transport fares by 40%, effective Monday, January 17, has been rubbished by the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC).
A statement issued in Accra and signed by Emmanuel Ohene-Yeboah, General Secretary of the GRTCC, called on the public to disregard the Concerned Drivers Association’s ultimatum since no such decision has been taken.
“Our attention has been drawn to a news item making rounds on social media and other electronic platforms that transport fares will go up by 40% effective Monday, January 17, 2022. We wish to inform the general public that no such decision has been taken. There are established protocols and principles for the review of public transport fares in the country. We are currently in discussion with stakeholders and when we are ready, we will inform the general public accordingly,” the statement disclosed.
The statement said “we are appealing to all transport operators and drivers to disregard the information and to comply with the existing fares,” adding “we also encourage the Regional Coordinating Council to ensure compliance to the existing fares.”
Original Threat
The concerned group earlier in the week threatened for the second time that it had resolved to increase transport fares by 40%.
They said the decision to increase transport fares was necessitated by what they claimed to be economic hardships in the country and the negative impact on their work.
The group said the high cost of fuel, high import duty on vehicles, increase in the cost of spare parts and automobile lubricants, are among the reasons for its decision to scale up the fares.
“Price of fuel commodities at the pumps of the various Oil Marketing Companies. Ghanaians agree with us that, fuel commodities have seen a consistent upward increment and will even soon see another increment as predicted by the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC). It’ll be recalled that a little over a month ago, drivers nationwide embarked on a sit-down strike, which negatively affected commuters. Even though the Chief of Staff, Frema Osei Opare on behalf of government met with driver unions and promised a reduction of the prices of petrol, but unfortunately that promise has not materialised. We are rather witnessing a consistent increment,” they had said in the statement.
They added that “the prices of vehicles continue to increase on a daily basis due to high duty rates at the ports. This situation makes it even more difficult to defray the cost of vehicles, causing car owners to increase daily sales of drivers. In the end, drivers work virtually for nothing.”
“We commiserate with Ghanaians on the current economic hardships but in order to keep us in business, we are left with no other option but to adjust transport fares a little upward which is a 40% increment… It has become extremely difficult for us to manage our homes as prices of basic commodities including sachet water have also seen an upward increment,” they said in the statement.
Two weeks ago, the group protested against the high cost of fuel and urged the government to scrap what they described as nuisance taxes on the price build-up for petroleum products. Six months earlier, they had threatened to increase their fares by 40%, but that threat was not carried out.
By Ernest Kofi Adu