Reduce fuel cost, or we’ll increase fares by 30% – Drivers to Government

Commercial Drivers have threatened to strike next week over rising fuel prices they say are crippling their businesses.

In the month of August, fuel prices at the pump rose between 7.9 per cent and 10 per cent on the local market, reports say.

According to the aggrieved drivers, they are devastated by the continuous hikes in fuel prices at the pump by this government, which is making the government unpopular.

“We are being consumed by the rising cost of fuel. The government has raised fuel prices several times in a period of eight months. To our surprise, just yesterday, there was an increase and the prices at the pump has shot up to about 17%. We are hereby advising the government to decrease the fuel price.

We won’t pay the new prices. We give the government up to Monday, if we don’t see any change by Tuesday which is my first day at School, we’ll boycott work and sit at home and about 2 million cars will not be working. And if by Wednesday we don’t hear any good news we’ll go ahead and increase fares by 30%.” the angry drivers who stormed Kasapa 102.5 FM told host Fiifi Banson on Anopa Kasapa Morning show Friday. As well as the cost of fuel, drivers have also been angered by the frustration with the Police on the road, according to them, and want the government to intervene to make their work stable.

Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Mr Duncan Amoah has said drivers must brace up for fuel hikes which now hovers around 7% revealing that prices of petroleum will go up in the second pricing window of September.

This is largely as a result of the storm in US, which has affected crude demand. The storm and the hurricane which preceded it,have forced US oil producers and refiners to shut down, although they are now beginning to resume production after the bad weather moved onshore, he told Kasapa FM.

He advised if the government does not review the price stabilization margin charge on petroleum products the price of fuel will go up in the coming days.