Motor check halt vote-buying move - Drivers

The Ghana Committed Drivers Association (GCDA) has accused the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) of trying to bribe commercial drivers to vote for the party by making the police suspend motor checks indefinitely.

According to them, the decision by the police to pause inspection of drivers’ licences and other car documents is “a lame and desperate attempt by the Mahama-led government to bribe commercial drivers to vote for the NDC following years of implementing punishing policies against us”.

This was contained in a press statement issued by the Ghana Committed Drivers Association (GCDA) on Wednesday, October 5, following the directive.

The order from the police hierarchy instructed personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service to only ensure “traffic management duties”, while the Highway Patrol Unit are only to check for arms and drugs.

The Committed Drivers have expressed “total disappointment at the recent directive by the Inspector General of Police (IGP)”.

For them, they are more concerned about the “Mahama-led NDC government’s insensitivity and resultant increases in insurance premiums by over 500%”, which they said would further be increased by an additional 300% if the NDC wins the 2016 elections.

“As drivers, we have been saddled with gas shortages and unstable and high petroleum prices over the last couple of years. Import duties on vehicles and spare parts have made our trade more expensive as vehicles have become expensive to buy and to run in order to make ends meet,” he added.

They further pointed out that “life in Ghana today for us in this sector has increasingly been unbearable”.

The Committed Drivers have, therefore, called on members and other commercial vehicle operators to “treat the recent directive by the IGP with contempt as it is only a desperate attempt by the Mahama-led government to deceptively court votes of commercial drivers in favour of the NDC”.