Trotro drivers at 37 appeal for reduction in fuel prices

THE Chairman of the 37 Military Hospital Branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Mr Osei Frimpong, has appealed to President Mills to reduce the recent hikes in the prices of petroleum products.
He said drivers had always been at the receiving end when there were hikes in fuel prices and that the recent increases had worsened their plight.
Mr Frimpong made the appeal at a press conference organised by the Alliance For Accountable Governance (AFAG), a pressure group, at the 37 Military Hospital Lorry Station in Accra yesterday.
According to him, the press conference had been organised at the lorry station because he had invited AFAG to do so.
The press conference was also used by AFAG to announce its planned demonstration against the recently announced upward adjustments in fuel prices on January 26, 2011.
According to the local GPRTU Chairman, although drivers had played a major role in bringing the NDC to power, especially because of its promise to reduce the prices of petroleum, they had been disappointed with the periodic increases.
He said anytime there were petroleum price hikes, drivers had been subjected to all kinds of harassment by passengers who suspected that they had been cheated by drivers and car owners because fares had been increased.
That, coupled with domestic problems arising from increases in school fees, rents and other utilities, had make life unbearable for drivers, he added.
Mr Frimpong said apart from the fuel price increases, all other things that went into enhancing the smooth operation of commercial vehicles had shot up, while drivers were only allowed to adjust fares based on fuel price hikes alone.
Announcing the date for the AFAG demonstration, dubbed “Ahokyere”, literally meaning ‘suffering’, Mr Martin Adjei Mensah, the Spokesperson for the group, said on January 5, 2011, the alliance pleaded with the government to, as a matter of urgency, reduce the petroleum price hikes.
He said AFAG also gave the government a 10-day ultimatum for a reduction in fuel prices or incur the wrath of Ghanaians.
He said the economic problems facing Ghanaians were huge and crippling because parents were unable to pay their children’s school fees, with businesses collapsing, even in the face of increasing unemployment.
Mr Adjei-Mensah noted that in the midst of all those hardships, it had been the expectation of Ghanaians that the government would heed their plea and reduce taxes. Unfortunately, the Mills administration had slapped them with high taxes.
He said it was based on those broken promises by President Mills that AFAG and its allies, such as the Generational Youth Movement, the Progressive Nationalist Forum, traders’ associations and labour unions, would embark on the demonstration to register their protest against the harsh economic conditions in the country.