Blame police for gas shortages – Ghanaians told

The National Chair of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union, Bernard Owusu has blamed the strike action of gas tanker drivers on a few bad nuts in the Ghana Police Service.

Parts of the Greater Accra, Western and Central Regions were hit by an acute shortage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

The situation left consumers who depend on LPG for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes stranded.

According to Bernard Owusu, the continuous harassment of gas tanker drivers by the police is what led them to go on strike which inadvertently affected the ordinary Ghanaian.

“We have faced some issues in the past few months and that is what we were working on resolving. The Police always harass our drivers whenever they load products from the Atoabo Gas Plant to Tema. They take money from them and conduct unnecessary checks frustrating our drivers”.

He furthered that these checks were meant to be done by the Customs division of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and not the police. “So we went to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and complained to them about these harassments. They assured us they will resolve the issue but nothing happened, hence, our strike action”.

The National Chair of the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union disclosed that the union had met with the Labour Ministry which had promised to address their concerns in the next two weeks. “We have resumed duty and Ghanaians will get their gas and we expect the Labour Ministry to resolve issues in two weeks as promised”, he told Sefa Danquah on the Epa Hoa Daben political talk show.

In a press release dated Sunday, November 1, 2020, signed by the leadership of the General Transport Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU), Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union (GNPTDU), Gas Tanker Drivers Union (GTDU) and the Deputy Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Bright Wireko-Brobbey, the drivers announced their resumption of duty.

“Following a sit-down strike by members of the Gas Tanker Drivers Union (GTDU) from 29th October 2020, an emergency meeting was held between the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations (MELR) under the directive of the Minister on one hand and the Ghana Transport Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU) of GTUC, Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union (GNPTDU), Liquified Petroleum Gas Marketing Companies (LPGMC), Ghana LPG Operators Association (GLiPGOA) and Oil Marketing Companies of Liquified Petroleum Gas (OMCLPG) on the other hand on Sunday, 1st November, 2020 to resolve the impasse,” the press release announcing the calling off of the strike said.

“The Ministry assures the general public that the drivers have resumed duty with immediate effect as the government takes steps to resolve the matter with all the urgency that it deserves,” it added.