Frustration, confusion and chaos defined the traffic situation on some roads across the country yesterday morning, when commercial drivers withdrew their services in protest of high fuel prices.
Many passengers, including workers, traders and school children, were left stranded at various bus terminals and roadsides while drivers blocked roads to prevent their colleagues and private vehicles from moving amidst resistance.
The action by the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and other transport operators was to drum home their demand for waiving of some taxes on fuel prices, which, according to them, had affected their business.
The strike was, however, suspended around noon by the GPRTU in a statement issued by its General Secretary, Godfred Abulbire, following an invitation to the Presidency.
“Development will be communicated to members,” it said.
JONATHAN DONKOR AND JULIUS YAO PETETSI report from Lapaz that stranded commuters from inner communities like Alhaji, Tabora, Omanjor, NiiBoi Town, Yellow House, Six-to-Six, and Chantan were taken by surprise at the industrial action of the drivers.
This is because they claimed they were not aware of the industrial action of the commercial drivers until they came to town.
At the Circle and Tema stations, for instance, the long queues diminished overtime as the visibly-frustrated passengers came to the realisation that trekking either to their intended destinations or back home was the option left to them.
The usual irritating sound that blares from the public announcers which advertises destinations at the station were absent as officers of the transport unions, drivers and mates were taking early morning naps.
Along the highway, attempts by some roving vehicles to pick up some of the stranded passengers were resisted by the taskforce stationed by the transport operators to ensure their industrial action had the effect they envisaged.
But for the intervention of the police, the strike would have turned tragic as the taskforce resolved to prevent all vehicles from using the Lapaz to Abeka routes that lead to Circle, Accra, Industrial Area and Kaneshie.
Wielding sticks and metal rods, the protesters from about four lorry stations in the area, they stopped every commercial vehicle and caused passengers to alight and signalled private vehicles to retreat or face their wrath.
According to eyewitnesses, some ‘trotro’ drivers who early on resisted the order from the agitated protesters had their windscreen and side mirrors damaged for betraying the collective fight for reduction in fuel prices.
The action lasted more than three hours until the police intervened and taxis and private vehicles were allowed passage amidst hooting and name calling.
VIVIAN ARTHUR reports from Sowutoum that drivers who ply the Sowutoum to Lapaz route instructed their colleagues to enforce the strike by ordering passengers they had picked up to alight.
A driver, Kofi Nyame, said, “We’re embarking on this action for about a week. We are very serious and want the government to listen to our demands, otherwise what would happen in the subsequent week would be worse,” he said.
“I’ve been waiting here for more than an hour now just looking for a vehicle but no vehicle is moving. I really don’t know what is going on. I managed to get into a car but they dropped me off because of some road blocks. This is very frustrating and we want the government to listen to their plea so that we can also move to our various workplaces,” a stranded passenger said.
AGNES OPOKU SARPONG reports from Ablekuma-Awoshie-Pokuase road that commuters had to walk long distances in their quest to get to their destination. Those who could pay the overpriced fares being charged by some taxi drivers went for that option while those who could not afford it stood there hoping the situation would change.
The refusal of the protesting drivers to allow other drivers to use the roads caused confusion which could have led to fights if the police had not intervened.
The situation was no different at Abeka as CONNIELOVE MAWUTORNYO DZODZEGBE AND ANITA ANKRAH report that while students, traders, workers were frustrated, some drivers engaged in games and conversations to while away the time.
Richard Ansah, a driver, said he made losses in his business since most of his day’s takings went into fuel.
“Fuel prices are so high the little we make in a day is used to buy fuel, which has made me unable to cater for my family. My wife has threatened to leave me, which has led to marital problems,” he added.
Faustina Owusu, a trader, said she was stranded because she could not afford any other means of transport so she had to walk in order to take her children to school before heading to work.
She added that the strike would affect her children’s academc performance as they are writing their exams and would be tired after the long walk from Abeka to Circle.
Scores of drivers plying the Spintex Road stretch had their vehicle tyres deflated for refusal to comply with a directive by the Coalition of Commercial Transport Owners reports KEN AFEDZI.
By 8:00 a.m. on Monday, about 15 commercial vehicles had had their tyres deflated at Coastal Estate Junction and Kotobabi No 2 by some station operators under the instruction of their executives.
Clad in red arm bands and head gears, with some being bear-chested, the enchanted youth forcibly dropped passengers onboard vehicles and returned recalcitrant drivers while deflating tyres of those who refused to budge.
According to one driver, Prosper Mmeraedu, his understanding was that some routes had been designated for drivers to ply but was not aware of total laying down of their tools as later explained by the Coalition.
This left many commuters who use the services of these commercial vehicles to their destinations stranded.
Some commuters, out of frustration, decided to stay off work yesterday, hoping for the resolution of the impasse between the government and the transport unions.
As of the time of filing this report, some of the drivers, including Mr. Mmraedu, said they had closed for the day in compliance with the directive.
According to ABIGAIL ANNOH, it was a near-chaotic scene on the Mallam Weija Kasoa stretch where striking drivers had blocked major sections and forcibly dropped passengers being conveyed by drivers who were either oblivious of the strike or uninterested in it.
Some members of a task force enforcing the action, wielding clubs, pelted sachet water at private vehicles offering to help people to their destinations.
Taxi drivers who plied stations like the Mallam, Gbawe areas also bore the brunt of the action and so had to drop passengers miles away from the station or risked being attacked.
The situation caused gridlock on both lanes of the highway with commuters and vehicles meandering their ways through the traffic to reach their destinations.
RAISSA SAMBOU reports that passengers of commercial vehicles on the Kasoa stretch of the Mallam-Kasoa highway were also badly affected by the situation.
Mr Kojo Ansah told the Ghanaian Times that he was in his way to a job interview which had been scheduled for 8a.m. on Monday but as at 7a.m., he was still at the Galilea bus stop.
“I do not think I will be able to make it to the interview. This is very frustrating,” he said.
He called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, listen and resolve the grievances of the drivers’ unions.
At the Kasoa old market, the Ghanaian Times observed that as at 10 a.m, the roads were still quiet with not sign of commercial vehicle business going on there.
The trotro station was also empty but there were some drivers around chatting.
One of the drivers, David Sampah, told the paper that at about 7a.m, some of the drivers had gathered at the station to play football, adding that though the strike would affect their income, it was very necessary because “Government has taken us for granted for a long time now.”
Videos went viral on social media showing some passengers aboard trucks while drivers in Ashaiman and Kasoa turned their stations into mini-football pitches and played football to the delight of onlookers.
According to media reports, 110 buses from the Quality Bus System, popularly known as “Aayololo,” were deployed to five routes in Accra to mitigate the effect of the drivers’ strike on commuters.
Up north in Tamale, YAKUBU ABDUL-MAJEED, reports that most of the principal streets in the metropolis were almost empty as there were only private vehicles seen on the streets. The usual heavy traffic at on the major streets was nonexistent between 7a.m. and 11 a.m. yesterday.
Workers and businessmen and women stood at the lorry station for several hours without transport. Mr. Francis Nawuli, a commuter, told the Ghanaian Times that he had been at the junction for two hours without getting means of transport.
He indicated that a ‘yellow yellow” driver who stopped to pick him was sent away by his colleagues.
Fulera Inusah, a market woman who was also stranded at the lorry station, said she had to return home because she could not see the end of the strike soon.
There was near commotion in some parts of the metropolis as some drivers stationed at the traffic lights stopped colleagues who attempted to work.
Some tricycle operators, as well as commercial drivers at the main lorry station Wa in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region on Monday morning, joined their colleagues in other parts of the country to embark on a sit-down strike to protest against what they described as the frequent increase in fuel prices, reports LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, from Wa.
Checks by the Ghanaian Times at the station around 9 a.m. revealed that drivers had refused to move their vehicles regardless of the number of passengers that had thronged the station for their services.
Both the commercial drivers who usually conveyed passengers from Wa to other districts and tricycle operators who were responsible for transporting passengers within the Wa Municipality had refused to move.
Some passengers who spoke to the Ghanaian Times expressed their frustration at the turn of events and said they had serious businesses to attend to yet they were being delayed at the station because drivers were not working.
“I came for the weekend and I need to get back to Nandom to be able to go to work but the buses are refusing to move and I don’t even know what to do next,” a stranded passenger complained.
Some of the drivers who spoke to this paper said they needed the government to reduce the fuel prices so that they could get adequate profit from their vocation.
BY TIMES REPORTERS