Commercial Road Transport Operators and their allies have declared support for the demonstration scheduled to take place on June 28 and 29, 2022, by the Pressure Group, Arise Ghana to register displeasure on the escalating price of fuel. 

In a joint press conference, the Allies made up of Concerned Spare Parts Dealers Association, National Okada Riders Association, together with the Operators, said they would be part of the exercise because their businesses are collapsing due to several factors including frequent fuel price increments.

Among the issues raised was what they termed as “escalating frequent fuel price,” where the prices of petroleum products go up fortnightly, which made commercial drivers run at a loss.

They called for the scrapping of the price stabilization levy, special petroleum tax and the sanitation and pollution levy.

The aggrieved operators also complained that increases in import duties and clearance fees had made the cost of spare parts and vehicles too high, pushing a lot of them out of business and further worsening the unemployment situation in the country.

Mr David Agboado, the Public Relations Officer, Commercial Road Transport Operators, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said, “times are hard and life has become so unbearable for us. Our businesses are suffocating, and this is the time to rise up and demand change.” 

“Early this year, we showed how productive we could be and how important our business could be to the economy when we chose not to work for a day,” he said.

Mr Agboado warned that a series of such actions would follow, if the government, after the demonstration, continued to maintain its position on the tax components on the fuel.

Mr Aminu Yusif, a member of the Concerned Transport Operators, said taxes accounted for 40 per cent of the price of a litre of fuel in Ghana, adding that such a level of taxation was unacceptable and unbearable.

“We cannot continue to manage our businesses and families with the prohibitive cost of fuel as it affects our operations costs and profit margin, rendering us poorer.”

Mr Yusif called on individuals who had been affected by the high fuel prices and the general economic hardship to join in the demonstration.

The Arise Ghana Demonstration seeks to demand from the Government better conditions of life amidst the economic hardships and some nuisance taxes.  