Hundreds of stranded truck drivers at the Commodity Village at Apowa, yesterday staged a demonstration to register their displeasure at the inability of the Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC) to mobilise carriers to offload the cocoa beans in their trucks.
Currently, there are more than 1,500 trucks at the terminal, each loaded with 600 bags of cocoa.
The drivers and their mates blocked the main entrance to the general parking area for trucks by burning tyres and the demonstration resulted in slow-moving traffic along that stretch of the road as the demonstrators, from time to time, moved to the middle of the main Agona Nkwanta-Takoradi highway.
A team of police officers from the Kwesimintsim District Command were around to ensure that they did not go beyond limits or cause any havoc.
One of the drivers, Mr John Nti, said he arrived at Apowa more than a month ago but had not been attended to.
�Aside that, the facilities at Apowa are overstretched, we cannot even get water to drink, no sleeping place; we have also run out funds and are hungry. Meanwhile, we have children to feed and families to take care of,� he said.
Mr Nti told the Daily Graphic that the carriers had refused to offload the cocoa because of bad wages and conditions of service.
�The sad aspect is that when our trucks are not offloaded, we are not paid. I need to work with the truck before I can get paid, � he said.
Another driver, Mr Fuseini Amadu, told the paper that conditions at the loading terminal were very terrible and dehumanising. When asked if there were attempts to contact the owners of the facility, he said: �We made several attempts to get the authorities to offload the cocoa, but nothing has happened.�
At the terminal
When the Daily Graphic toured the facility, the main terminal, with the capacity to accommodate 1,500 trucks at a time, was full. New trucks which arrived last Sunday and yesterday were parked by the side of the road due to the lack of space and those who arrived later were prevented from entering the already choked terminal.
There was no official of CMC to tell their side of the story.
They (CMC carriers) are not happy with their service conditions.
The carriers and their families working with Unicontrol, a private company, are registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme, enjoy workman�s compensation, personal loan facilities, food and transport, protective gear and receive monthly salary.
These aside, the agreement between Unicontrol and the workers also makes room for retirement packages, which the other carriers working for CMC do not receive. The CMC�s carriers are, therefore, not happy with their conditions and demanding better conditions.
<<Print>>