The Presidency has invited the leadership of a coalition of some 16 Transport Unions who embarked on an indefinite sit-down nationwide strike starting from today.
The sit-down strike according to the Coalition is to protest the high cost of fuel prices in the country.
A leading member of the Coalition of Transport Operators, Ibrahim Musa, told Alfred Ocansey on the Sunrise show on 3FM Monday, December 6 that “there was a [purported] communication from the Chief of Staff that the strike be suspended because the President wants to intervene and that the President would want to meet the coalition”.
The Coalition in an earlier statement had directed the leadership of all its affiliates to close their stations and advise all drivers and car owners to fully comply with the directive.
They also cautioned all members that there will be severe administrative consequences for any member who is found to be in breach of this announcement. According to the Coalition, their action is borne out of a number of demands they are expecting the government to offer them in the 2022 Budget.
“That we are calling on the government to, as a matter of national emergency, to totally scrap the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy, the Special Petroleum Tax, Energy Sector Levy, Energy Debt Recovery Levy and the Sanitation and Pollution Levy from the pump price of petroleum products before the midnight of Sunday the 5th December 2021.
“That in the unfortunate failure of the government to fulfil the demands of the Coalition, as stated in paragraph 3, above, the Coalition will have no other option but to commence our sit-down strike action across the country effective Monday the 6th December 2021,” the Coalition statement.
The meeting at Jubilee House today is expected to address their concerns.
