The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), has urged its members not to increase fares until it concludes negotiations with the government at its upcoming meeting on Tuesday, November, 9 2021.
According to the Union, even though its talks with government to scrap some taxes and levies placed on petroleum products have not been fruitful, a meeting with government on Tuesday will determine if transport fares will be increased or not.
Speaking to Citi News, the General Secretary of GPRTU, Godfred Abulbira Adogma, said “…as it stands, we are going to meet government this Tuesday, to discuss the way forward on the increment of fuel prices. So, we are cautioning our members to hold on unless the discussion on Tuesday is concluded before we can know the actual line of action, whether there will be fare increment or levies will be reduced”.
He further added that, their main focus is not on the increment of fares which will in turn put pressure on people, but rather they want government to scrap off some taxes and levies placed on petroleum products.
“This time round we don’t want to be in a hurry to go and calculate and go straight to increase the fares just to pass on the burden of the fuel increment unto the consumer. Practically, we are focusing on whether or not some of the levies on petroleum products can be scrapped off, so that is what we intend to achieve coming Tuesday.
Ghanaians want to see a reduction in transport fares following the removal of the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levies (PRSL) on petrol, diesel, and LPG for two months as approved by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
But the GPRTU has advised the public to be measured in their expectations for a reduction in transport fares.
The union has accused the government of acting in bad faith despite contractual assurances of stabilizing the prices of fuel that will lead to maintaining transport fares at least in the short term since they were last increased in June 2021.
Fuel prices have in the past few months witnessed upward and downward adjustments, with the recent being an increase of 2.59%, a situation, industry players have criticized.
In a related development, the much-anticipated temporary suspension of some levies in the price build-up of fuel at the pumps is yet to take effect even as the second pricing window commences.
This is because Parliament is yet to give the NPA the approval needed to scrap the levy.
Source: citifmonline
