Berekum GPRTU drivers protest against assembly relocation directive

Aggrieved drivers of the Berekum Municipal branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) in the Bono Region Tuesday, hit the principal street of the town, protesting against a directive, pushing them to relocate to the Berekum Thursday Market.

Consequently, several travelers were stranded in the early hours, when the commercial drivers, who wore red armbands, blocked the entrance to the main Berekum lorry station.

The Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered that the authorities of the Berekum Municipal Assembly ordered the branch GPRTU to relocate to the site at the market to ease the human and vehicular traffic in the enclave.

However, the union executives had since objected, insisting that they were unready to comply with the directive.

The tempers of protesters flared up when they got to know that one of them had been arrested and placed in police custody for failing to comply with the assembly's order not to load passengers at the main lorry station.

Some of the drivers who spoke to the GNA described the directive by the assembly as unfair, saying that relocating to the market would impede their economic activities.

“We have the legitimate ground to remain and work at the main lorry station”, Mr Kwaku Amankwaa, one of the protestors, fumed, and called on the assembly to rescind the directive for the purpose of peace.

He said: “In fact, we are highly disappointed in the Assembly because we expected the use of dialogue and not the use of force.”

Another commercial driver, Mr Frimpong Francis criticized, describing the directive as harsher and undemocratic, saying that: “They can't forcibly relocate us”, calling on the assembly to facilitate the immediate discharge of the driver who had been arrested.

Efforts to contact authorities at the Assembly, including Hajia Fatimatu Abubakar, the Berekum Municipal Chief Executive, on the directive were, however, unsuccessful.

GNA