Hundreds of school children and workers walked to school and their workplaces respectively Monday morning in Ashaiman and its environs following an indefinite strike embarked upon by commercial drivers across the country.
Most of the commuters, who were frustrated by the action of the drivers had to make the journey on foot while others decided to patronize the services of motorcycles popularly known as ‘Okada’.
Some of the commuters told News Ghana they are disappointed in the government for being insensitive to the plight of Ghanaians.
“I am supposed to report to school at 7.00 am and now there is no vehicle for me to pick because the drivers are not working. This is disgusting, the government must listen to the people a little by removing some of the taxes on petroleum products for fuel prices to come down,” an educationist, Isaac Peprah said.
Alice Akweley, a resident of Ashaiman who sells at the Tema Community 1 market said the action of the drivers Monday morning would affect her business.
She said, “I normally get to my place before 5 am to supply products to my customers. Here I am here at 6.30 am and I cannot get a vehicle to Tema. This strike is really going to affect my business. The government should listen to the concerns of the drivers so we will be able to also move from one place to the other.”
At Abeka Lapaz near Accra, several commuters were found stranded along major roads and the various bus terminals in an attempt to get vehicles to their destinations.
Commercial transport operators in the country began a sit-down strike beginning Monday morning to push the government to scrap taxes on the pump price of petroleum products.
A statement released here over the weekend by the Coalition of Commercial Transport Operators said the scrapping of the taxes would ease the burden on Ghanaians.
“In pursuance of the directives of the coalition of commercial transport operators in Ghana and all branches and locals of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Northern Region and all affiliates of the Coalition are to embark on a sit-down strike from 5 am on Monday, December 6th, 2021,” this is according to the statement by the driver union.
According to the drivers, the strike will remain in force until all their demands on the removal of the taxes are fully met by the government.
Meanwhile, the government is yet to officially respond to the strike action and it remains unclear when the drivers will suspend their action and resume operations fully. Enditem
