ALLOW UNION TO SERVE AS GUARANTORS - GPRTU (PAGE 31, JULY 7)

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) in the Upper West Region has appealed to the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to allow the union to serve as guarantors for its members who want to purchase the bank’s sponsored Yutong buses.
The union said the current practice where individual members of the union were made to deposit GH¢35,000, representing 20 per cent of the total amount, was not beneficial to its members in the three northern regions.
“We, therefore, appeal to the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), as a social democratic party, to intervene to also enable us to benefit from the bank’s assistance,” it added.
Mr Nuhu Mahama, the Upper West Regional Industrial Relations Officer of the union, told newsmen in Wa that the present arrangement by the ADB benefited only the union members in southern Ghana.
According to him, only two of the Yutong buses had been delivered to the region because of the loan arrangement.
He was, however, happy that the introduction of the buses in the region, coupled with those from Accra and Kumasi, had enabled the union to claim its market share of passengers who decided to shift to Metro Mass Transit buses.
Mr Mahama said the state of the Wa-Bole-Bamboi road had improved so well that travelling on it was no longer a nightmare.
Currently, there is only a small portion of the road that is yet to be tarred.
He, however, expressed regret about the horrible nature of the Sawla-Fufulso Junction, Wa-Tumu-Bolga and Wa-Hamile roads.
On security at the Wa Lorry Station, Mr Mahama commended the police for bringing sanity to the place particularly in the night.
“I, however, want to call on the Wa Municipal Assembly to provide security lights at the car park to ensure the continuous safety of passengers,” he said.