Editorial: Can Metro Mass Transit Survive the Losses?

THE CHRONICLE has gathered with shock the burning on April 1, 2007 of three Yaxing buses commonly referred to as 'Kufuor bus' in Kumasi.

The management of the Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT), Kumasi, tried covering up this incident but for the swift moves of the paper, the huge loss would have been pushed under the carpet.

A careful observation of the operations of MMT since President Kufuor reintroduced the mass transport system in October 2002 on a pilot basis in Accra and Tema, followed by its incorporation in March 2003, indicate that all is not well with the transport company.

As a result of the administrative lapses, a Dutch management team was contracted to run the company and revamp operations.

MMT is owned by the Ghana government (45% shares) with the remaining 55% shares going to a consortium of banks and insurance firms.

The company has been bedeviled with stealing and illegal purchases and procurement practices involving some management personnel.

For instance on October 22, 2005, Mr. S. O. Owusu Bempah then the technical manager was caught siphoning diesel from MMT bus with registration number AS 1127 U into his KIA cargo truck No. AS 8163 W.

His accomplices were Francis Mensah and Kofi Ketsi. The siphoning was repeated on November 12, 2005.

In all, 75 litres of diesel was reportedly stolen by Owusu Bempah, who was reported to have also removed the horn from a bus with registration number: GR 6520 U and fixed it to his KIA truck.

Tyres and other items like spare parts are procured under suspicious transactions. The least said about ticket racketeering, the better.

It is not surprising the company cannot service its indebtedness to the Tema Oil refinery (TOR) for the supply of fuel. Employees are complaining of poor conditions of service and a lot more problems are arising every day. Three buses are reportedly burnt to ashes and there seems to be nothing afoot to establish what exactly happened.

It is obvious that the MMT is not being managed along sound business lines and therefore something must be done about it.

The MMT is becoming a complete waste for the taxpayer, as government subvention goes into supporting its operations. If proper supervision is not brought to bear on the management of its operations, the MMT would without doubt defeat the intentions of Government, as far as mitigating the transportation costs and difficulties of the ordinary Ghanaian.

If MMT must survive, the government must move fast to protect it from collapsing by launching a full-scale investigation to probe the activities of management personnel, past and present.

In fact, a probe of the MMT-Kumasi is long overdue.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) must make haste and look through the books of MMT and ask relevant questions to unravel the mystery behind the burning of the three Yaxing buses.

As far as The Chronicle is concerned, that is the only way MMT can survive and not collapse as Omnibus Services Authority (OSA) or the City Express did previously.