The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has announced an upward adjustment of transport fares effective May 7, 2022.

This is in spite of an earlier announcement by the Union that it hopes to adjust transportation fares upwards by 30% effective Friday, May 13.

In an interview on JoyNews' The Pulse on Friday, Samuel Amoah, a member of the National Communication team of the GPRTU, revealed that the increase is due to President Akufo-Addo's remark that government cannot afford to remove taxes on petroleum products.

“So this news came to us and then we also came to a round table and found out that there is nothing they could do about reducing the taxes on petroleum products that is why we also organized ourselves, did our calculations and now from tomorrow May 7, we are coming up with 20% upward adjustment in our transport fares,” he said.   

In April, the Union asked government to scrap some taxes on petroleum products to cushion drivers and commuters, but President Akufo-Addo rejected the proposal.

According to the President, scrapping the taxes will cost the nation GH¢4 billion in revenue.

Mr. Amoah in response pointed out that the fare adjustment should have been done long ago, but that they had the public's best interest at heart due to the challenges and increases in prices of commodities “thinking that government can also adjust or sacrifice by reducing some of the taxes.”

He added that if the Union fails to increase the fares, their businesses will collapse.

“You know the business that we run, the petroleum product is the major component that we use to run our business, talking of the spare parts and lubricant and other components that we use, they have all gone up,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) says there has not been any meeting with the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) for a consensus on the 20% increase in transport fares.

General Secretary of GRTCC, Emmanuel Ohene Yeboah in an interview with JoyNews explained that the usual convention has been for the Union to meet with the GRTCC and the Transport Ministry before any upward adjustment in transport fares is announced.

He told JoyNews that the Council is not aware of a 20% increase in transport fares.

“As a party, whenever there is a fuel increase and its corresponding increase in transport fares, the operators, that is the GPRTU and the GRTCC will meet together with the Ministry of Transport for discussion and agree on the percentage increase, but as I speak to you, there is no meeting of such nature, so for anybody to come out with a definite statement that we are going to increase by this percentage at this time, I don’t know,” he said.