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New transport directive will be enforced despite protests – GUTP

The Ghana Urban Transport Project (GUTP); the body coordinating the registration of all taxi drivers in Accra has stated that registration will enforced in spite of the widespread protests by the taxi drivers.

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has issued a directive asking all taxi drivers operating in the Metropolis to regularize their operations by joining a recognized Union or Association.

This according to the AMA is to enable the Assembly effectively regulate their activities.

The drivers however on Tuesday, staged a protest in some parts of the capital to register their displeasure and unwillingness to adhere to the new directive adding that several attempts to register with various taxi stations within the Metropolis have proven futile as station masters claim there is no space to accommodate them.

However, in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Wednesday, the Communications Manager for the Ghana Urban Transport Project, Kojo Antwi explained that the directive “is to have a database of everybody who is offering public transport services within any jurisdiction…we want to be able to trace every trotro, every taxi to a particular location, to a particular station, to a particular district, to a particular Assembly.”

Mr. Antwi further clarified that if the public transport drivers comply with the directive it will help in planning for infrastructure such as roads and bus stops, database management and appropriate allocation of resources and also minimize security concerns such as armed robbery.

He noted that the drivers are expected to “come to us as an Assembly, let us know which routes you are operating on through your unions or through Association or cooperatives come to us, declare your route which is called a route registration exercise not a station registration exercise…let us make sure you have your commercial licenses, let us know that truly you operate from this corridor and then we will give you a permit then we will also give you the necessary stickers to put on your vehicle to recognize your operations.”

Mr. Antwi counselled the drivers not to consider the directive as a violation of the right to forcibly join a union saying, “we are not talking about your personal freedom or right, we are talking about the fact that now you have decided to offer a service to the people of Ghana and that must be regulated.

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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