The Ghana Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has cautioned transport operators in the country not to increase fares despite an increment in petroleum products.
[contextly_sidebar id=”mzBgJg1ocQn0tJKn3U5Fynzvui0SCzRo”]The National Petroleum Authority increased petroleum products by 9% however, an agreement signed between government and transport operators gives the latter the opportunity to automatically increase fares only if petroleum products are increased about 5% or more.
However a statement jointly signed by the General Secretaries of GPRTU and the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC), Stephen K. Okudzeto Alhaji Aliyu Baba respectively, urged transport operators “not to increase transport fares pending the midyear review of transport fares which is scheduled for June, 2015.”
According to them “it is the policy of the Transport Fares Review Committee to review transport fares bi-annually i.e. January and June every year.”
They insist that allowing the Committee to deliberate over the matter “will enable other components that go into the running of commercial road transport services to be taken into consideration.”
“Members are therefore kindly requested to maintain the current fares until the June 2015 review. We further ask all tranport operators, commuters and the General Public to cooporate with us until the June 2015 review.”
In a related development, the Deputy Minister of Transport, Joyce Mogtari has said they will meet with the leadership of the transport operators on Monday to insist that fares are maintained.
“If my memories serve me right, at the time (when fuel prices were reduced by 10%) some reduced their fares and others didn’t and that is the challenge with these things. But I’m sure that following that recent experience, we should be able to come to an agreement that for the time being, fares that are being charged are reasonable and that the logical thing would be to maintain them,” she added.
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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana