Petroleum tanker drivers in the Republic of Ghana, on Monday, declared a sit-down strike to protest the deplorable state of roads that link fuel depots in Tema, Kumasi, Takoradi and Buipe.
The tanker drivers, under the aegis of the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Union, said they would not move their trucks to any of the depots to load fuel until Ghanaian authorities fix the bad state of their roads.
National Chairman of the Union, George Teye Nyaunu, who led the drivers and a section of Ghanaian journalists to inspect the poor state of the road from the Tema Oil Refinery to Kpone-Katamanso township, said they are pained that the government has abandoned the area which has been contributing huge revenue to the state and rather fixing roads in areas where the country does not generate much revenue.
He told the journalists that President Akufo-Addo instructed the Roads and Highways Minister to ensure that the road was fixed as far back as 2017, but said the Minister has failed to live up to the expectation.
He recalled that a sod was cut before the 2020 general elections but said immediately after the elections, the road was abandoned.
“If, indeed, the Roads and Highways Minister is serious or is concerned about petroleum products or concerned about Ghanaians, this road should have been a burden to him.
“I have nothing against the President because, from 2017, he instructed the Roads Minister to do this road. So, I can see a bad nut. The Minister is a bad nut,” Mr Nyaunu said.
The road was virtually empty when a section of the journalists visited the TOR-Kpone stretch of the road where several petroleum depots are dotted around.
On a working day like Monday, the road would have been very busy, but all the depots closed their gates, thereby, making the road virtually empty except for taxis that managed to ply the torn road to Kpone.
Sections of the road had developed deep holes and collected rainwater, making it difficult for tankers to ply the road.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com