Regional News of Saturday, 29 October 2005

Source: GNA

Upper West GPRTU Secretariat to design uniform for various Porters.

Wa, Oct 29,GNA- The Upper West Regional Secretariat of Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) would by the end of this year design uniforms for porters in all the various stations in the Region so as to easily identify porters who misbehave and engage in criminal acts against passengers.

The system, which would begin in the Wa Municipality, would by next year be replicated in all the Districts of the Region. Mr. Nuhu Mahama, Regional Industrial Relations Officer of the Union announced this in an interview with Ghana News Agency at Wa on Saturday when he took over as the Branch Chairman of Wa- Kumasi Express Station. He was unanimously elected as the chairman of the station after the death of the former chairman Mr. Alhassan Osman, popularly known as "Blackman"

Mr. Mahama said there have been several complaints about the behaviour of porters at the stations and so the use of uniform would stem the high rate of indiscipline and offensive language as they could easily be identified.

The Officer also announced that the station would soon embark on 'one man, one seat' method where buses would be used without middle seats, but cautioned that such buses would attract higher fares than others. The innovations are part of plans to make the numerous passengers comfortable and eliminate crime and indiscipline that have been so prevalent at the stations.

He promised to use an open administration that would be guided by transparency, discipline and accountability. "I would also seek to deal with religious, political, ethnic and social differences that are often within our stations," he said.