Address unfair lorry fares – GPRTU Charged

Editor of the Informer Newspaper, Andy Kankam, has called on the leadership of road transport unions, primarily the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to stop their members from charging arbitrary fares.

The GPRTU announced an increase in lorry fares by 19% effective Saturday, October 29, 2022.

The move, according to the union has been necessitated by the continuous soaring of prices of petroleum products at the various fuel pumps.

Currently, Diesel and Petrol are selling for over GH¢15 and GH¢13 respectively at major fuel pumps; a situation transport operators say is eroding their profit.

The announcement has seen some transport operators charging more than the 19% resulting in brawls and misunderstandings between them and passengers.

With this disturbing development, Andy Kankam in the Editor’s Take Edition of the ‘Happy Morning Show’ told Samuel Eshun, “So, if you’re going to increase lorry fares and the agreed upon rate is 19% then, it should be exactly that and nothing more. The fare increase should be a maximum Ghc1.50p across board and not more. But people are taking undue advantage of the system to siphon money from the public unduly.”

He advised the GPRTU leadership to stop trying equalize the actions of its members, but focus on checking the arbitrary fares charged by them.

Over the weekend, a hassle over lorry fares and an ensuring confrontation between a driver and passenger over Ghc2.00 led to the death of the passenger. Not wanting a similar scenario to reoccur, authorities have also been called upon to intervene in the situation, ensuring the right fares are charged.

Although Ghanaians find themselves in hard times, there is the hope the country will yet again survive this economic turmoil.

By; Joel Sanco