The Ghana Private Road Transport Union of the Trade Union Congress (GPRTU of TUC) has stated that it is disgusted and pained by a news item published on www.ghanaweb.com attributed to Mr. Bright Simons, a Vice President of IMANI Ghana, attributed to Mr. Bright Simons, a Vice President of IMANI Ghana.
“We read with disdain and pain a story published by www.ghanaweb.com and attributed to Mr. Bright Simons, a Vice President of IMANI Ghana, on Wednesday 10th August 2022 with the ignorant and treacherous allegation that, the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has cut a deal with the waste management experts Zoomlion Ghana to impose a towing insurance service on our members without a membership ballot,” the Union stated in a letter dated in Accra on Accra, 11th August 2022.
The letter was headed ‘RE: ZOOMLION IN CHARGE OF GPRTU MANDATORY TOWING LEVY – BRIGHT SIMON ALLEGES’.
The leadership of GPRTU informed the general public, that Bright Simons and his likes that, they have no interaction with the company Zoomlion in connection with our life-saving innovation towing insurance and never will.
“Indeed, we are aware that Zoomlion’s business is waste management and so our connection with them is purely waste collection and nothing else. It is therefore unfortunate that Bright Simons will engineer such a wild allegation to spark an unnecessary uproar within our rank and file as a result of bringing sanity to the Ghanaian road sector.
“We have done broad consultations among our members and we have the approval of the National Executive Council (NEC) and do not understand what Bright Simons meant by membership ballot. Over the years we have taken decisions that have kept our union together without a membership ballot, it is therefore unfortunate that a well-meaning Ghanaian like him would want to stir the settled mud within our rank and file for his ·aggrandizement even when. it is obvious we meant well to every Ghanaian.
“We refer Bright Simons to a whopping 1,300 persons being killed in road accidents in Ghana between only January and June 2022 which are largely associated with stationary vehicles on the road as reported by the National Road Safety Authority. The report indicates that nearly 8,000 people sustained various degrees of injuries during the same period. This according to the report is even an improvement as compared to previous years,” the Union stated.
They stated that it is the awful statistic that has occasioned their well-intended proactive embarkation on this project to help reduce road carnage to save the lives of the Ghanaian people knowing very well that our members are the most users of the road during the day and at night.
“We would have expected an appreciation from people like you who are supposedly well versed with issues around the world to urge us on a progressive adventure but regrettably that is not the case,” they said.·
They stated that it is therefore unfortunate that Bright Simons, who is not their member and does not own a commercial vehicle as far as they know, is making himself a busybody in this matter.
“We are poised to implement this initiative knowing how our members suffer on the road in times of breakdown or accident and nobody, not even Bright Simons’ million tweets and press conferences can stop us.
“We have launched an app to aid our members easily get access to towing vehicles in times of need at any time and anywhere and the over 2.6 million vehicles operated by our members shall subscribe to the initiative through the app with details of their vehicles. Due to our seriousness on this project, we shall not allow any driver to load from our GPRTU stations if they fail to subscribe.
“It is instructive that, people like Bright Simons and the Ghanaweb must always enquire for further and better particulars about the information they have before publication because GPRTU has no such deals cut with Zoomlion anywhere as alleged, and whatever they have published has no iota of truth in it. We request the Ghanaian people to disregard it with condescension.
“We call, therefore, for an unqualified apology and also a complete retraction from both Ghanaweb and Bright Simons on their false allegation to bring peace and further request their support for the successful implementation of the project for the safety of Ghanaian lives or we will advise ourselves,” the Union concluded.
