The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has disclosed that the Union will increase transport fares by 19% effective October 29.

According to Godfred Abulbire, General Secretary of the Union, the increment is due to the recent hikes in fuel prices coupled with the galloping inflation and the current depreciation of the Cedi.

Speaking in an interview on the AM Show on Wednesday, he stated that the Union will issue a statement later today to inform commuters about the latest adjustments to fares.

He said the 19% increment was agreed upon by the Union after an extensive discussion with President Akufo-Addo, together with other transport operators across the country.

Mr Abulbire noted that even though his outfit had basis to charge more, they listened to the plea from the President to revise their proposed 49%.

Explaining the increment, he said, “What we should have been asking adequately should have been around 49%. But looking at the economic situation, we had to come down to 25% and then even scale down to 20% and then yesterday 16½% [from the Minister].

After discussing with the President, he said all that we’re saying are facts. And that there’s nothing there that he’s not aware of. But looking at the situation, the moment fares go up, it [affects] a lot of things”, he explained.

The GPRTU General Secretary continued, “And so as a father, the President was asking us to reconsider our decision and see if we could take the 16% offered by the Minister. But we said that was actually a problem … So we all agreed that we’ll take off 1% and we’ll accept 19% and that’s how the meeting concluded”.

“We said the 20% was just still a consideration … So we agreed and said we’ll waive off that 1%. Today we’ll be issuing out a communiqué and then it will take effect on Saturday coming [29th October]”, he added.

The increment by the GPRTU comes at a time when many Ghanaians are already feeling the brunt of the hardship in the system.

To alleviate their pains, many are urging the government to quickly implement measures to make the situation better.

Meanwhile, private legal practitioner, Martin Kpebu, has called on citizens to mass up in their numbers for a demonstration against the Akufo-Addo regime.

The protest is due to take place on November 5 at the Obra Spot at the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange (Circle) at 7am.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the avowed government critic stated that the protest is to compel President Akufo-Addo to resign as the head of state.

According to him, the exercise will be a reenactment of the historic 1995 ‘Kumi Pre Ko’ demonstration against the then Rawlings era, where Akufo-Addo played a lead role.

Expressing sympathies for a man who committed suicide at Kasoa Galilea purportedly on the back of the hardship in the country, he urged citizens to support the move.