The Minority in Parliament has called on the government to refrain from its usual lacklustre approach and show commitment towards addressing the genuine concerns of the Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union with immediate effect to avert the pending national crisis.
“Information reaching us indicates that the strike action is already having a negative impact on petroleum supplies with reported shortages of LPG and other products in some parts of the country,” the caucus in a statement signed and issued by the Ranking Member, Mines and Energy Committee, John Abdulai Jinapor added.
They said they reject the excuse by government communicators that the nation was broke, following the rapid deployment of road contractors to complete some major roads in the Assin North Constituency during the period of the recently held by-elections.
“The action by the government in Assin North points to one fact, that they have priorities, and the minority in Parliament believes that fixing the roads connecting to these major depots should be one of such priorities,” the caucus added in the statement.
The Minority also stressed that the petroleum products being transported on the deplorable roads were highly inflammable and had the potential of compromising the safety of drivers and pedestrians. For this reason, the government had to take action immediately.
Meanwhile, although the government has assured that the bad roads would be fixed, the group says it will not call off the industrial action until work on the roads begins.
Vice Chairman for the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers Union, Sunday Alabi, told Citi News that their safety was of utmost priority to them, and that was why they would only go back to work if the roads were fixed.
“In this situation, there is nothing we can do because we are rather helping the government not to incur any debts again. But as we speak our safety is the most important, so we want to hold it in our own hands. That is why we want it to be fixed before we continue the work in this situation,” he added.