Deputy Transport Minister, Joyce Bawa Mogtari has said government will still engage transport operators to appeal for a reduction in transport fares.
Speaking on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.3 FM, Bawa said a 10% threshold in its negotiations with operators will be a fair deal to passengers and the unions.
Transport fares in Ghana are up by 15%, which took effect from February 1, 2016.
The acting General Secretary of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC), Andrews Kwesi Kwakye said the Unions were considerate in fixing the new fares.
The increment, he said, is as a result of the increase in the prices of petroleum products and the “cost of spare parts and maintenance, licensing, levies, charges and tolls and the almighty fuel.”
But the Deputy Minister in an interview on Kasapa FM told host Fiifi Banson that government courtesy the healthy collaboration it has with the transport operators will still bid with them to “arrive at something that works for all of us”.
“We really cannot arm twist them in this regard, they are private organization and we engage them because they are extreme stakeholders in the transport sector with large constituents.
“We will continue to appeal to them for calm, and to allow logic to prevail; we’ll engage them together with the National Petroleum Authority. We want them to come to a realization that this phenomenon of reductions of petroleum prices will remain with us and that they may have to think more about reducing fares to meet this growing trend rather than always coming to requests for increment based on other inputs rather than petroleum.
“…In recent times when petroleum prices have gone down considerably; we haven’t heard about commensurate transportation decreases in fares. So for the same argument if indeed some reductions are envisaged I’m hopeful that they will come to the realization that instead of coming all the time to argue for increment, soon they’ll be coming to discuss reductions as well, because this trend will actually stay with us for quiet some time. Nobody foresees any extreme hike in crude oil price over the next few months.
