The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has disclosed that the Union will increase transport fares by 19% effective October 29.
According to Godfred Abulbire, General Secretary of the Union, the increment is due to the recent hikes in fuel prices coupled with the galloping inflation and the current depreciation of the Cedi.
Speaking in an interview on the AM Show on Wednesday, he stated that the Union will issue a statement later today to inform commuters about the latest adjustments to fares.
He said the 19% increment was agreed upon by the Union after an extensive discussion with President Akufo-Addo, together with other transport operators across the country.
Mr Abulbire noted that even though his outfit had basis to charge more, they listened to the plea from the President to revise their proposed 49%.
Explaining the increment, he said, “What we should have been asking adequately should have been around 49%. But looking at the economic situation, we had to come down to 25% and then even scale down to 20% and then yesterday 16½% [from the Minister].
After listening to the President, he said all that all that we’re saying are fact. And that there’s nothing there that he’s not aware. But looking at the situation, the moment fares go up, it [affects] a lot of things’ he said.
The GPRTU General Secretary continued, “And so as a father, the President was asking us to reconsider our decision and see if we could take the 16% offered by the Minister. But we said that was actually a problem … So we all agreed that we’ll take off 1% and we’ll accept 19% and that’s how the meeting concluded”.
“We said the 20% was just still a consideration … So we agreed and said we’ll waive off that 1%. Today we’ll be issuing out a communiqué and then it will take effect on Saturday coming [29th October]”, he noted.
Source: myjoyonline.com
