Ghana’s threatened September 21 transport strike has widened beyond PROTOA after it joined the Alliance of Drivers Ghana in urging all commercial operators nationwide to park their vehicles.
The Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA), which first threatened an indefinite withdrawal of its own vehicles from September 21 over rising vehicle maintenance costs, issued a joint statement with the Alliance of Drivers Ghana on September 16 directing all commercial vehicle operators, not just its own members, to prepare to park their fleets until further notice. PROTOA blames the surge on higher port charges, taxes and other costs tied to importing spare parts, on top of already-rising fuel prices.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the country’s largest transport union, has declined to join the action. Deputy Public Relations Officer Samuel Amoah said on Newsfeed Thursday that the union shares the underlying concern but sees negotiation, not a strike, as the way to resolve it. “We share the same concern. The fuel prices have gone up, the lubricants are up, insurance, DVLA charges, and everything is up. That is why we are proposing this 30% increment,” he said, adding: “We are not supporting the issue of a sit-down strike.”
The GPRTU and the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) first raised the case for a fare review with the Ministry of Transport on September 8, though the Ministry said at the time no decision had been made and briefed the unions on measures to stabilise the cedi. A joint committee formed since then is due to submit a final cost assessment by the end of this week, Amoah said, after which stakeholders will settle on the size of any fare increase.
Fuel costs are adding pressure to the timeline. The Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC) has projected petrol rising about 9.63 percent to roughly GH¢17.23 a litre and diesel about 6.97 percent to GH¢18.35 in the next pricing window, on top of increases already recorded this month. The National Petroleum Authority’s chief executive has separately warned diesel could reach as high as GH¢28 a litre without government support, underscoring the scale of the cost pressures transport operators say they can no longer absorb without a fare adjustment.
