The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has dismissed claims by government that some commercial transport operators are deliberately creating artificial shortages to justify higher fares, insisting the current transport challenges are driven largely by broken-down vehicles and high repair costs.
Deputy Public Relatios Ofiicer of the GPRTU, Samuel Amuah, said the union was disappointed by comments from government spokesperson Felix Kwakye Ofosu, who accused some drivers of engaging in rent-seeking by avoiding designated loading points to create scarcity.
“What we heard from Honourable Felix Kwakye Ofosu about we deliberately decided not to allow vehicles to come and pick passengers… we are a bit disappointed in him,” Mr Amuah said in an interview on Metro TV’s Good Afternoon Ghana on Thursday, January 15, 2026.
Mr Kwakye Ofosu, speaking earlier at the Government Accountability Series, argued that some operators were intentionally roaming instead of loading at approved stations to force commuters to pay more.
“They are creating scarcity to drive up prices so that they can engage in rent-seeking behaviour,” he said, describing the practice as unlawful and assuring that government was taking steps to deal with it.
But Mr Amuah rejected the suggestion that the shortage was deliberate, questioning how drivers would survive if they were intentionally prevented from working.
“This is our business that we do. We can’t buy vehicles and then ask the drivers to park their cars and stop them from picking passengers,” he said.
“At the end of the day, where are they going to get their daily bread from? So that is not true.”
According to him, the real challenge is the increasing number of vehicles off the road due to mechanical faults and the high cost of repairs.
“Of late, most of the vehicles are parked at the workshops,” he said.
“You can pick your cameras and go around to most of the workshops and you see vehicles being parked for months, for years, because they find it very difficult to repair them.”
He added that the union had expected government to engage transport operators directly rather than apportion blame.
“Our expectation was that they should have invited us to a roundtable meeting for us to discuss and find the solution,” Mr Amuah said.
Mr Kwakye Ofosu, on his part, said government had directed the State Transport Company to return more buses to the road and ordered the expedited servicing of broken-down metro buses to ease congestion in the short term.
He also indicated that the Transport Minister had requested a meeting with the GPRTU and other unions to address concerns about alleged rent-seeking and fare hikes.
While denying claims of deliberate shortages, Mr Amuah stressed that the union does not support overcharging, noting that steps had been taken in the past to caution drivers against arbitrary fare increases.
“We are seriously against that,” he said, referring to drivers charging beyond approved fares.
