The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has shared their delight and relief with Happy98.9FM, celebrating the President’s decision to lift the partial lockdown placed on certain parts of the country after 3 weeks.
According to them, the President’s decision will save them from the stress and harassment they suffered from security personnel during the lockdown.
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Vice Chair of the Union, Robert Sabbah said, “we thank God the lockdown has been lifted. The police didn’t allow us to work over the period and we thank the President for his decision. Now we can work freely and take care of our families”.
Speaking on the Happy Morning Show, Mr. Sabbah disclosed that, members of the union suffered “unpalatable and dehumanizing treatment” at the hands of the Police service during the lockdown.
“We were following the President’s directive to the latter but I don’t know if the police had a different directive altogether. They always claimed we didn’t practice social distancing which was not the case and kept harassing us. We really struggled during the lockdown but now that it is over, we know things will be better”.
On his authority, a lot of car owners and drivers were largely affected by Police harassment as they had to park their cars home to avoid any problem with the police on the road.
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He told host, Samuel Eshun that regardless of the ban being lifted, the union will make sure that drivers still regard the social distancing policy in their vehicles and upon request, also provide hand sanitizers to passengers.
As part of measures to control the possible spread of the COVID-19 virus in Ghana, President Akufo-Addo directed commercial vehicles to practice the social distancing policy by reducing passengers per row by one.
By: Joel Sanco