Drivers given one month ultimatum to join recognized unions

The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has given commercial drivers (trotro/waawaa) in the city a month’s ultimatum to compulsorily join any of the 24 recognised transport unions of their choice.

“Drivers who fail to comply with this directive will have themselves to blame, because their movement will be restricted,” the Assembly noted.

A statement signed by Ms. Henrietta Afia Konadu Aboagye, Public Relations Officer, KMA, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Kumasi, said the decision was in tandem with plans by the authorities to have the activities of commercial drivers properly regulated.

This forms part of measures taken by the Assembly to bring sanity to the transport industry - forcing drivers to always do the right thing, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The statement explained that the KMA was concerned about the safety of passengers and public in general given the deadly nature of the disease.

Therefore, it was working with the various unions to enforce all health-related protocols regarding the transport industry to reduce the spread of COVID-19, which had claimed the lives of five people out of the 152 confirmed cases in the country.

The statement directed commercial drivers to as a matter of urgency, reduce the number of passengers per seat, observing social distancing at all times.

They should also wash and disinfect their vehicles thoroughly on regular basis, ensure open windows for fresh air and making available on their vehicles hand sanitizers for public use.

Meanwhile, only a handful of commercial drivers were seen in the Kumasi Metropolis as the President’s imposition of a two-week partial lockdown of some Ghanaian cities, which took effect on Monday, March 30.

The principal and inner city roads looked deserted as the people stayed at home in compliance with the President’s directive.

The situation, however, was different at the market centres where the drivers worked busily, carrying traders and cargo to their various endpoints.