Transport Ministry donates sanitary items to unions

The Minister of Transport, Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, has presented sanitary items and educational materials on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to various transport unions in the country.

The items, estimated at GH¢100,000, include 200 Veronica buckets, 200 plastic bowls, 800 bottles of hand sanitisers, 400 bottles each of disinfectants, liquid soap and tissue paper, as well as 300 flash (pen) drives containing recorded messages in various Ghanaian languages on good hygiene.

Beneficiaries

The recipient transport unions are the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC), Metro Mass Transit (MMT),the Inter
City State Transport Company (STC), VIP-Jeoun, Ghana Committed Drivers and ride hailing companies, Uber and Bolt.

Rationale

Presenting the items, Mr Asiamah said the donation was in response to the directive by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the ministry to work with the transport unions in private and public operations to ensure enhanced hygienic conditions in vehicles and terminals.

They were to achieve that by providing hand sanitisers, facilities for running water and soap for washing of hands.

The minister urged the transport operators to increase the stock of the items presented to them on their own and strictly heed the directives of the President to provide commuters, drivers and staff with what was required to make them safe from contracting the disease.

Commuters

Mr Asiamah also called on commuters to adhere to the directives as well as those spelt out by the transport operators at their various bus terminals so as to halt the spread of the pandemic.

“I am pleading with everyone to strictly adhere to the directives. This coronavirus does not know a driver, passenger, or a car owner. We are all at risk. So, please let us all strive to protect ourselves and ensure that we put into practice all the directives that have been spelt out by health experts”, Mr Asiamah stated.

Operators

The transport minister also charged transport operators to take the contact details of every commuter that would patronise their services to enable the health experts to trace the fellow whenever the need arose.

He said it was incumbent on owners of the commercial vehicles to constantly wash their vehicles thoroughly and disinfect them constantly before allowing the vehicle to go for another trip as part of measures to deal with the menace.

Recipients

The General Manager of VIP-Jeoun, Mr Adakabre Frimpong-Manso, who received the sanitary items on behalf of the transport operators, thanked the Ministry of Transport for coming to their aid and gave an assurance that the items would be put to good use.

He urged corporate entities to emulate the gesture of the Ministry of Transport by also presenting some sanitary items to the transport operators, since the measures they were embarking on to curb the spread of COVID-19 had brought added cost to their operations, but were very mindful in passing on such cost to passengers.