Correspondence from Upper East Region

The management of the Upper East Regional branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) of the TUC, has laid down strict rules, in a bid to conquer the COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Ghanaweb's Upper East Regional correspondent, Sarah Dubure, the Regional acting Chairman of the union, Mr. Fatawu Atinga, said they held a press conference, where all the branch executives across the region, were in attendance.

He said they instructed all the executives to always have Veronica buckets, soaps and sanitisers at post, and ensure that passengers washed and sanitised their hands before boarding the vehicles.

Mr Atinger added that they also encouraged porters and traders who operated within the confines of the lorry stations to always wear their nose masks as they went about their daily activities.

Mr. Atinga further added that he directed that passengers who came to board vehicles without wearing nose masks should be turned away.

He revealed that the union delegated an 11-member committee to monitor every loading terminal, to ensure that all the needed Personal Protective Equipment(PPE)were available.

Mr. Atinga noted, that recalcitrant persons in the union were slapped with a suspension of three months.

Mr Atinga also said he went around the stations from time to time, to ensure that both long and short distance travellers wore nose masks.

The Chairman however expressed worry over complaints from the aged that they could not breathe anytime they wore the masks.

According to him, that was not an excuse, considering the risk at hand.

Mr. Attinga recounted a recent encounter with aged women, regarding the wearing of nose masks.

"I said to mom, why are you not putting on your mask? The old lady told me that if she wears the mask, she can not breathe, and I said so mum, if you die can you breathe well? And they were all laughing in the car. So after that, she removed the mask from her bag and put it on". He recollected.

Mr. Atinga cautioned that the only way people could be protected from the virus was by simply wearing nose masks.

A visit to the Bolgatanga-Navrongo-Paga lorry station saw workers and passengers seated in their nose masks.

For his part, the chairman of the station, Mr. Moses Anafo Aduko said he mounted a veronica bucket at the post, right at the time the pandemic was first recorded in Ghana, and he never stopped the practice.

Mr. Aduko said he assigned some women to always bring some nose masks and sell around so that passengers would not come with the excuse that they did not have nose masks.

"They can not come here and say they do not have nose masks. If you don't have it, I will say there is someone here selling them". He pointed.

He recounted that some passengers came to the station some time ago without masks and said the pandemic was non-existent, and he instructed them to get out of the car.

He said that they had no choice than to buy some nose masks before boarding the car again.

"Some people came and boarded a car and said there was no sickness anywhere. Oh, they dropped from the car, it is not a joke. They went to someplace, they came back and bought the nose masks here, and they took another car because that car got full and left". He recounted.

Mr Aduko sounded a word of caution to those who said God was going to protect them to have a rethink since God instructed us to obey our leaders.

"Those who say that God is going to protect them, they should read Romans chapter 13. God said that we should obey our leaders. So if you are thinking that you are a worshipper of God, you have to obey whatever the Bible says". He said.

"Every day, the government will come out and say that we should protect ourselves, as we believe in God, we should also obey our leaders." He added.