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The hundreds of commuters including market women, school children, workers among others who patronise the Kojokrom Main Lorry Terminal could be made to suffer the consequences of a standoff between the Kojokrom branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) in the coming days.
Members of the Kojokrom branch of GPRTU will not pay parking tolls in protest of what they claim is the Assembly’s refusal to pay royalties legitimately due the union.
Chairman of the terminal Moses Mensah, in an interview with Takoradi-based Skyypower FM, explained that the Union is entitled to 10 percent of the revenue generated from parking tolls collected from commercial drivers using the terminal by the assembly.
“However, it’s been six years and the assembly has not released our share to us,” he revealed.
When asked why it has taken the Union six years before asking for the funds, he indicated: “There was no unity among the executives at the Kojokrom bus terminal. We are now united and so we are working at correcting all our mistakes. And one is to look for what we deserve. The 10 percent is one. We are being handed a raw deal by the assembly and it has to stop.”
Mr. Mensah said the Union took the decision to stop paying the parking tolls because all efforts to get the assembly to release their 10 percent share had failed.
“One will ask why we are demanding this funds. We use it to address challenges here. Currently there are so many challenges that are making it difficult to operate here. The entrance is not in the best of shape. We don’t have electricity here. And since the assembly is not doing what they ought to do, they must release the funds to us to do it ourselves.”
However, Public Relations Officer for STMA John Laste, in a response, insisted the Assembly has no contract with the union for which reason it will be entitled to any 10 percent royalties.
“We have two different ways of managing terminals. So for example if the assembly declares a place as a terminal, it is either the terminal belongs to a transport operator or to the assembly.”
He added: “The only time the assembly pays royalties is when there is an agreement between the assembly and the transport operator. As it stands there is no form of agreement whatsoever between the assembly and the transport operators at the Kojokrom terminal. So no one is entitled to any royalties there. Besides, they don’t own that terminal.”
For commuters, it is their wish that the union and the assembly will resolve their differences peacefully as they fear the possibility of a strike action which will affect their movements.
By Eric Yaw Adjei
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