While Ghanaians continue to groan under the stress and strain of the harsh economic reality occasioned by the depreciation of the local currency and worsening inflation, it appears the situation is only going to get worse, as the Ghana Private Road Transport Union, have announced a 40 percent increment in transport fares.
A member of the Communications Team of GPRTU, Samuel Amoah in an interview on Newsnight, Monday said since May this year, fuel prices have increased by about 42 percent.
According to him, any other percentage increase apart from 40 percent will make it impossible for the drivers to provide efficient services to passengers.
“We are not using only fuel prices to do our calculations. The components we use to run our businesses are, the major ones; fuel price, lubricants, spare parts and taxes and all these things have gone high…The dollar rate that we normally use to check on the spare parts prices has also gone high. So these are the reasons why things are going this way.
“So if we do not come up with 40 percent, there is no way we can serve the clients the way we used to do,” he stated.
Like most Ghanaians, we believe the move to increase transport fares, although it is long overdue, is ill- timed and should be suspended because it is coming at a time most Ghanaians are struggling to cope with the impact of daily increases in the price of basic commodities.
Rather than contemplate an increase in fares, GPRTU in partnership with the government, should find a way to work out modalities to ensure that the fares remain as they are.
While the increment may be fitting in the near future, now is certainly not the appropriate time to consider it.
Our candid advice to the GPRTU- is for it to halt the intended increment.
