PRESIDENT J.A. Kufuor has decided to leave no stone unturned in finishing hard what he promised to do during his eight-year tenure — to touch the lives of majority of Ghanaians.
Although some of the policies were not intended for self-gratification, the beneficiaries have named some of them after him. Thus we have the “Kufuor dollar” as a result of the redenomination exercise and the “Kufuor bus” in recognition of the relief the Metro Mass Transit offers to commuters.
The DAILY GRAPHIC commends President Kufuor for inaugurating 250 new buses for the Private Sector Fleet Renewal Project to improve the capacity of the private sector transport industry to provide safe and affordable transport services for the public.
This initiative must be informed by the fact that an effective road transport system enhances the movement of people and goods for social interaction and trade boom.
In countries where rail transport has collapsed and air travel costs a fortune, the best bet for any commuter is by road.
And from time immemorial the private sector has helped to make available fleets of buses on our roads. But for their involvement, the state would have found it very difficult providing efficient transport services for the public.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has, for many years, operated in a more organised and efficient manner, for which reason its buses can be found in all corners of the country.
Other transport organisations such as the Ghana Co-operative Transport Society and the Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA) have also demonstrated their readiness to play key roles in the running of intra and inter-city transport services.
A couple of years ago, the GPRTU was considered a very disciplined transport union whose leadership would not tolerate indiscipline and was quick to “name and shame” those who flouted road traffic regulations with impunity in order to avoid carnage on our roads.
Unfortunately, the liberalised atmosphere that offers opportunity for the formation of many transport unions has led to a situation whereby some drivers operate under no strict guidelines on our roads. This group of drivers, popularly called “overlapping drivers” or “floating drivers”, hardly submit to any discipline or respect road traffic regulations.
It is our expectation that the collaboration among the Yutong Company of China, J. A. Plant Pool, the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), the Intercontinental Bank, the GPRTU and the Ministry of Transportation will endure, yield positive results and lead to a boom in the transport industry in the country.
We are delighted that this latest initiative has taken into account the high operation cost and factored after-sales services into the sales agreement. In the past initiatives like this were launched with a lot of fanfare but faded into history because the buses were not made to suit the conditions of our roads. Thankfully, the present arrangement has recognised our peculiar circumstances in order to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.
The DAILY GRAPHIC encourages the parties in the partnership to heed President Kufuor’s advice to Ghanaians to improve on their work ethics and general discipline, since they were the drivers of productivity, without which investments would fail.
We echo the admonition that the success of the partnership lies in a new sense of commitment to work and respect for road traffic regulations. It is only when the operators of the vehicles observe the rules that they can provide safe, efficient and affordable services for the public.
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