Four MMT drivers fined for flouting rules

MMT buses

Four drivers of the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) have been ordered by a Kumasi circuit court presided over by Mr Justice Adjei Frimpong to pay fines totalling GH¢800.00 for flouting the metropolitan assembly's by-law.

They were arrested for parking and picking passengers at unauthorized points in the metropolis.

They pleaded guilty and were fined GH¢200 and would serve six months each in jail in default.

The KMA, as part of measures to decongest the metropolis, has been prosecuting drivers for wrongful parking and picking of passengers as well as hawkers selling on pavements.

Mr. Stephen Owusu, the Ashanti Regional Manager of MMT, is however, irritated by the arrest and prosecution of the company's drivers.

He told the Ghana News Agency that he was not comfortable with the assembly's action since it was discriminatory.

"Other buses were at the same place when these four drivers were arrested and I find it difficult to rationalize why those drivers were not touched," Mr Owusu said.

He called for fairness in the enforcement of the KMA's by-laws, adding that the manner in which the assembly's Task Force was carrying out the decongestion left much to be desired.

"We have been removed from points the KMA had earlier in a signed memorandum consented we should operate from. This has forced us to turn the Neoplan Assembling Plant into a terminal, creating a lot of inconvenience to the travellers", Mr Owusu said.