The Obuasi office of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has expressed great concern about the rate at which minors were being used as drivers’ mates in the Trotro business the municipality.

It has, therefore, set up a six-member task force to ensure that the practice was put to a halt. The members area Messrs Frank Owusu Ansah, Kojo Twum, Kwame Adu Gyamfi, Isaac Mensah and Yaw Owusu, Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary and members respectively.

Speaking at the Annual General meeting of the Union over the weekend, Kwame Adu Gyamfi, the local secretary, said all efforts by the Union leaders to stop the use of minors as drivers’ mate have proved futile.

The secretary of the Obuasi branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union who described the situation as negative development appealed to the media to play an active role in curbing this situation of minors being used as mates by creating awareness about the dangers involved.

He called on other stakeholders especially the Ghana Education Service and the Obuasi Municipal Assembly to intervene stressing that “as a nation we should not only pay lip-service to the fact that the children are the future, but also take practical steps to ensure that all children in this country are sent to the classroom.

“The country needs these young boys to be educated if we are to have the ‘better Ghana’ we are all hoping for,” he added.

The GPRTU secretary also hinted that the task force has also been given the power to arrest drivers who do not belonged to any union, popularly referred to as floating drivers.

He said those found to be picking passengers at unauthorized spots and thus causing nuisance and congestion on the road do not pay revenue and other development levies for the renovation lorry stations and that they must be stopped.

In attendance were Messrs Kwasi Amponsah, Charles Kwame Kwanni, Joseph K. Mensah and Benjamin K. Boafo, local Chairman, Vice Chairman, 2nd Trustee and Advisor of the GPRTU respectively.