Kumasi May 3, GNA - Commercial transport drivers in Ashanti have formed a Welfare Union to provide for themselves adequate financial security and care. The Union has already been registered with the Registrar General's Department and the membership is open to all drivers of the various Transport Associations.

Mr Sumaila Boachie is the Chairman of the five-member Executive Committee in charge of its management. Its main focus is to encourage drivers to make social security contributions towards old age and enter into group insurance, Susu and Credit Schemes, Mr Boachie told the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi.

Mr Boachie who is also the Chairman of the Kumasi-Takoradi-Elubo branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), said they would also be on hand to engage services of lawyers to defend their members who face legal suits in the course of their work. He described the situation where most commercial drivers have no social security as "unhealthy". "This certainly cannot be allowed to continue," he added.

Mr Boachie called for reasonable salaries for drivers, noting that, what most of them receive from transport owners at the end of the month is too meagre. He also advised long and heavy-duty haulage truck drivers to avoid the practice of obstructing drivers of light vehicles who attempt to overtake their trucks on the roads.