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Enforce ban on sale of alcohol at
stations - unions
Cape Coast, Jan. 11, GNA - Mr Robert Mensah, Station Master
of the Tantri branch Number One Station in Cape Coast, on
Thursday appealed to the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly to
empower the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to
ban the operation of drinking bars in and around lorry
stations in the municipality.
Mr Mensah, who made the appeal in an interview with the GNA
at Cape Coast, said the GPRTU and the various stationmasters
had not been given any mandate to enforce the law banning
the operation of drinking bars around the stations.
He said his outfit only heard an announcement about the ban
but that no official from the Assembly had come to enforce
it and hinted that executive members of the GPRTU and the
stationmasters at Tantri Station would be meeting on Friday
January 12, to discuss the issue.
Mr Mensah said currently there were five drinking bars
operating around the station including one inside the
station and stressed that the operations of the bars was
hampering their work since some drivers sneak there to
drink.
He said, however, that a number of measures including
outright dismissal had been put in place to deter drivers
from drink-driving, adding that if a driver was caught
drinking, he would not be allowed to load from the station
and that in some cases the driver could be suspended for
three months or more.
The unions at Abura, Pedu and Kotokuraba stations have,
however, banned the sale of alcoholic beverages at the lorry
stations to help stem drink driving and its consequences.
A visit to those stations revealed that most of them had no
drinking spots operating.
When contacted the Abura GPRTU local secretary, Mr Zack
Afful said the various unions had met and resolved to
disallow the sale of alcoholic drinks at the stations and
therefore even though they had been approached several times
by some people to operate such businesses at the stations
they did not allow them.
He said occasionally the Motor Traffic and Transport Union (MTTU)
of the Police Service also met them to educate them on the
issue and that they were now very alert on transport rules
and regulations and were doing their best to enforce them,
adding that as a human institution, there were some
recalcitrant drivers who still flouted the rules.
Mr Afful said such drivers were disciplined when caught and
those who refused to budge were expelled from the stations.
At Pedu, the chairman of the Cooperative Transport Union, Mr
Emmanuel Ghartey also said the union had discouraged the
sale of alcohol at the station and would continue to ensure
that their drivers were disciplined.
He said the drivers were educated on neatness, traffic laws
and the effects of overloading and said the education was
impacting positively on them and expressed the hope that
very soon things would change in the transport business for
the better.
GNA
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