No increment in transport fare yet – GPRTU urges public

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has urged the public to disregard reports suggesting that transport fares will go up by 30 per cent Friday, February 18, 2022.

The Union said it would conclude its negotiations with government on Monday, February 21, 2022, after, which it would officially announce the new rate.

“We have not yet concluded negotiations so the public should ignore those reports. Officially, we have planned that we will issue a statement to announce the new rate after our meeting with the Transport Minister on Monday,” Richard Yaw Amankwah, Deputy General Secretary in Charge of Operations, GPRTU, told the Ghana News Agency.

Private commercial transport operators in the week served notice that effective Friday, February 18, 2022, it would increase transport fares by 30 per cent.

The group said its decision had been necessitated by the rampant increment in fuel prices, which they said could collapse their businesses if they did not adjust transport fares.

“A gallon of fuel, which used to sell at the pump for ¢27, has now jumped to almost ¢36 per gallon,” it said in a statement on Thursday, February 17, 2022.

However, reacting to the development, the GPRTU, which is the largest transport union in the country, described the Group’s decision as a “betrayal.”

Mr Amankwah said the GPRTU was “a well-structured institution” adding that the Union would follow due process to ensure that the agreed increment would benefit transport operators, the public and all other stakeholders.

“All the 16 transport unions that make up the Coalition of Commercial Transport Unions of Ghana have agreed to conclude our negotiations with the Government before we take any step. So if one group comes out to announce a rate whiles negotiations are ongoing then it’s a betrayal,” he said.

The Coalition of Commercial Transport Unions of Ghana had initially proposed 30 per cent increment in transport fares but reduced it to 20 per cent after meeting with Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transport on Monday, February 14, 2022.

Two separate meetings between the transport operators and the Transport Minister had ended inclusively, with the Government pushing for a 10 per cent rate against the 20 per cent being demanded by the transport operators.

The transport operators had argued that the hikes in fuel prices had taken a toll on their businesses, adding that a market survey it conducted last month had indicated that the prices of essential input for their operations, including spare parts and lubricants had gone up by at least 35 per cent.

“When we did our calculations, we agreed that the increment in fares should be at least 21.4 per cent. So we proposed 30 per cent to the Government,” Mr Amankwah said.