Drivers operating at Madina station (New Bus Terminal) in the LaNkwantanan Municipal Assembly in Accra, have given authorities one-week ultimatum to stop recalcitrant drivers from turning the streets into loading bay.
Chairman for Amot Owners Transport Union, Mohammed Seidu, in an interview, alleged that the government has permitted drivers at Madina to operate from the roadside when there was a new bus terminal built by an individual to help curb the congestion on the road.
“There is only one bus stop in front of the police station where drivers off-load passengers but that bus stop has been turned into a market and passengers, pedestrians do not even get a place to walk,” Mohammed Seidu said.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Jennifer Dede Afagbedzi and other authorities, Mohammed Seidu alleged, allowed drivers to load along the road because they use the road every day and see them load but have kept mute over it and rather move about demolishing people’s buildings.
The Amot chairman lamented that “She is our major problem, if she had agreed on the initial charges the company came up with, things wouldn’t have gotten to this level. Formerly trotro was paying 2 cedis, taxi was paying 50 pesewas and long journey vehicle was paying 7 cedis but she joined some unions and demonstrated against these charges. Traders and drivers on the roadside would continue to operate because this has encouraged them to continue to operate from there (sic).”
He explained that the activities of other drivers operating from the streets or roadside have been a challenge to those of them who are operating from the new terminal and that, “When passengers get to the roadside; they board vehicles at the roadside instead of coming to the bus terminal to board vehicle and also when some passengers manage to come to the terminal to board our vehicles and its doesn’t get full early they get down and go to the roadside because vehicles at the roadside get full faster.”
He therefore called on government, especially the Greater Accra Regional Minister, who has declared that he would make Accra the cleanest city to act fast and get these drivers operating from the unauthorized ‘terminal’ to halt it.
“The space in front of the Mosque, the space in front of Baptist school, the space by the traffic light, Raco flat area etc have all been turn into bus terminal”, we have about forty drivers’ unions at the new terminal”, the chairman said.
He stated that if the government does not intervene and sack all their driver’s operations from the roadside within one week, they would all move to operate from the roadside.
By Ellen Agbavor
