Minister appeals to striking haulage drivers

Tema, July 12, GNA - Professor Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi, Minister of Ports, Harbours and Railways on Saturday appealed to the striking drivers of the Tema branch of the Ghana Haulage Truck Drivers Association (GHTDA) to resume work while their grievances were being investigated.

As an interim measure to appease the striking drivers Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi has ordered the release of all seized haulage trucks with transit goods meant for land-locked countries in the sub-region. He has in consultation with Dr K. K. Manfo, Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations ordered the suspension of the "height system" used in checking transit goods in the Northern Sector of the country. The directives followed an emergency meeting held with the striking drivers at Tema where it became clear that the checking of goods through the "height system" and the alleged harassment by the police were the major cause of the weeklong strike.

The drivers who cart transit goods from the Tema Main harbour to the land-locked countries such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso had since last week embarked on a strike action to back their demand for the streamlining of the system to ensure smooth operation. Speaking in turns, the drivers explained that the adoption of the height system in checking goods by the security agencies was deceptive since the weight of the heavy tyres could add up to the required 11 feet weight of the goods.

They also alleged that the security agencies in the Northern, Upper East and West regions extort monies from them, failure of which they were subjected to beatings, harassment and seizure of their trucks. While the meeting was in progress, Alhaji Adamu Yussif Danjumah, Acting Chairman of the Association informed the Minister that a telephone message he had just received indicated that the security agencies had seized about 50 trucks in the Upper East Region thus compelling those drivers who were on their to that region to park at WaleWale to avoid falling victim.

The Minister gave the assurance that the "Escort System" a practice where Customs officials and the security agencies escorted the transit goods in convoy from the port to the land-locked countries would be re-introduced to cease the straying of drivers en-route to attend to their personal issues sometimes leading to corrupt practices.

He said reports indicated that most of the drivers normally spent more days on the way to see their partners, relatives, attend funerals while others also allegedly altered the transit documents, which delayed the journey and gave way to engage in corrupt practices.

The drivers explained that they were forced by the absence of parking lots at strategic points along the major roads to park indiscriminately and stated further that they usually spend more days during the journey to repair faulty vehicles should they encounter problems. They argued that the Escort system could disrupt a smooth journey since they could delay as a result of shortage of fuel and other unforeseen problems.

Major (RTD) Yaw Asamoah, Security Co-ordinator of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) said the strike action had created a temporary congestion at the port because most of the trucks were parked inside and outside the port.

In the past week, three ships from Nigeria had docked at the harbour with 1,264, 40-footer containers of goods for other neighbouring countries but the withdrawal of their services had created a hold up causing massive financial loss.

Meanwhile, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Gordon Anim, Director of Tema Port said the present parking space outside the port for the haulage drivers would be developed to provide sanitary facilities and lighting system.