Rivalry between Nkawkaw GPRTU and Co-Operative deepens

Nkawkaw -- The rivalry between the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and the Co-operative Transport Union (Co-operative), which had witnessed a number of confrontations and nasty incidents, has once again reared its ugly head at Nkawkaw. And if the authorities concerned fail to act quickly, the tension that has mounted could erupt into bloody violence at any time.

The combatants are the Nkawkaw-Nsuoano-Donkorkrom local branch of the GPRTU and the Co-operative Transport Union plying the same route.

The GPRTU is accusing the Co-operative of parking at an unauthorized area marked by the Kwahu South district assembly (KSDA) as “No Parking” intentionally to block its (GPRTU) drivers from loading passengers.

The Co-operative, on the other hand, claims that their action has the approval of the district authorities.

The district chief executive (DCE), Mr. Raymond Osafo Djan, has however dismissed the claim, warning that the assembly would not condone and connive any lawless action in the district.

At the moment, the GPRTU members have vowed to use force to eject the Co-operative members from the disputed area, since they claim the authorities concerned had failed to solve the problem amicably.

In an interview with Chronicle at its Nkawkaw office, the vice chairman of the local GPRTU branch, Mr. Kwaku Manu, flanked by some of his executive members, said sometime last year, the KSDA ordered them not to park their vehicles at the roadside in front of the Nsuoano-Donkorkrom station at Nkawkaw and went ahead to mark the area as a “No Parking” place.

He said when some of the union drivers failed to comply and parked there, the police arrested them and they were made to pay a fine of ?600,000 each in court. “This is the very place the Co-operative union members are parking now,” he complained.

Manu alleged that vehicles belonging to other transport organizations, apart from the Co-operative, are arrested when they park there, but the DCE and the Nkawkaw police divisional commander, Mrs. Rose Bio Atingah, have denied the story and said due to the current road constructions going on in the Nkawkaw township, most of the streets have been blocked by the contractors, so the drivers have been allowed to park by the roadside for the time being.

They said the KSDA was preparing a space behind the Nkawkaw sports stadium, which the vehicles plying the Nsuoano-Donkorkrom route would be asked to use since they would not be allotted a space at the new Nkawkaw lorry park under construction.

According to the two authorities, the stadium area was first graded for the drivers to move there, but they refused, making the place grow bushy again.

The GPRTU members explained that they refused to move to the stadium area, since their present site was rented from one Opanyin Kwaku Boahene over 20 years ago and they therefore did not understand why the assembly wanted to move them to the stadium area and allow other drivers to use their site.

Opanyin Boahene has confirmed that he had given the site to the drivers as a station.

Meanwhile, at a meeting last week between the DCE and the GPRTU executives, with the district coordinating director (DCD), Mr. Samuel Nlarly in attendance, an assembly member, Mr. Oware Antwi, and this reporter, the DCE denied ever authorizing any driver to turn the “No Parking” area into a lorry park and promised to take action on the situation.

He, however, cautioned the drivers not to take the law into their own hands while the authorities were finding a solution to the situation.

At the time of filing this report, the Co-operative members were still loading passengers at the disputed area heightening the tension.