There appears to be amassing of wealth at the various transport unions, including the Ghana Private Road Transport Union stations in the country as drivers working under these unions pay heavy royalties to station masters and other executives without receipts.
Union executives extort huge sums of monies from drivers each day under the guise of seeking their welfare.
Drivers who ply their trade along the Last Stop Dansoman to Nkrumah Circle, for instance, pay close to GH� 100.00 per week as union executives fees.
Loading fee from Mamponse to Kwame Nkrumah Circle each morning stands at GH�3.00 and Nkrumah Circle back to Mampose attracts GH�4.00, with additional GH� 2.00 being operational fee paid at the Nkrumah Circle.
Other charges include extra GH� 7.00 every Friday and GH� 5.00 every Sunday with additional GH�12.00 on Sundays to three station masters as royalties costing GH� 7.00, GH� 3.00 and GH� 2.00 respectively.
The above fees are different from GHC 300.00 registration fees a new-comer pays before being accepted to the station.
The DAILY HERITAGE has gathered that the situation pertaining at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle-Agege Last Stop station is not different from other sister unions across the country.
The most worrying aspect of the whole saga is that there is no receipt given to justify the extortion of monies as any driver who dares challenge the justification of the fees is made to undergo several days of suspension or sometimes face outright dismissal.
A source at the station revealed to the paper that irrespective of the union one belongs to, drivers at Agege Last Stop to Nkrumah Circle are forced to pay these huge amounts of monies failure which they are sanctioned or sacked from the station without any recourse.
�It will interest you to know that even faulty vehicles dumped several days at the workshop are forced to pay GHC5.00 �away fees� no matter the number of days before being allowed to load passengers,� the source said.
The paper�s investigations further revealed that there are over 52 vehicles currently operating along that stretch of the road which accounts for over GHC 5,148.00 each week as station master�s fee.
That means for a month, the 52 vehicles pay around GHC 2,496.00 to station masters, while fees paid on every Friday and Sundays on monthly basis account for GHC 2,496.00.
The above phenomenon the drivers say has contributed to the low sales often recorded creating scuffle between drivers and their vehicle owners under the current economic crisis coupled with excessive petrol price increase.
According to some of the drivers who lamented to the paper, out of the 52 vehicles operating on that stretch of the road, each vehicle has 4 trips each day with the 38 seater buses making a daily sale of GHC80.00, while the 33 seater accounts for GHC75.00 with the mini buses also going for GHC 65.00 each day.
An approved fare from Mamponse to Nkrumah Circle is GH�1.50p; what it means is that a 38 seater bus after the 4 trips each day accounts for GH� 228.00 out of which a driver pays GHC 16.50p as royalties to union executives each day.
�We are therefore appealing to the government and other state owned organizations who are interested in fighting corruption to mount serious investigations into the activities of all union executives in the country.�
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