The Abbosey Okai spare parts dealers Association has rejected claims by transport operators that the inability to reduce fares is due to the high cost of automobile parts.

There have been calls on transport operators to reduce fares in wake of reduced prices of fuel at the pumps and marginal gains by the local currency on the forex market.

Despite these reliefs, transport fares have remained the same as operators blame the high cost of auto parts.

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has said it will not rush into a reduction until all the components that contribute to the increase in transport fares are reduced.

“For now, we will not rush and reduce fares, we need to observe things before we reduce before they increase again, and we are told to increase. We are going to observe and by the next pricing window, if the price comes down, nobody will need to tell us to reduce fares”, GPRTU General Secretary, Godfred Abulbire stresses.

But, Clement Boateng, Chairman of the Abbosey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association in a statement said, members of the group cannot be blamed.

Below is the full release:

“It has come to the attention of the Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association that Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) instead of reducing the transport fares as a result of the reduction of fuel prices has remained adamant and do not want to do that.

They are now attributing their failure to reduce prices of transport fares to the high prices of spare parts. It is against this background that we are holding this press conference to let the Ghanaian public know that what they are saying is not true.

Abossey Okai Spare Parts Dealers Association has over the years as a tradition always embarked on price reductions every November to help customers service their vehicles for the Christmas holidays.

As an affiliate of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) also, we have responded to their press release this week to try and adjust prices to give some respite to Ghanaians as a result of the appreciation of the cedi against the dollar.

We, therefore, want Ghanaians to disregard the propaganda that the GPRTU is waging as it has been their tradition over the years whenever they are called upon to reduce transport fares.

We wish to let the public know that prices of spare parts have been adjusted to respond to the appreciation of the cedi and would urge all customers to go directly to the shops and buy from.”