TMA EMBOSSES TAXIS WITH SECURITY FEATURES ... (Page 18)

Story: Rose Hayford Darko & Anastasia Dzovor, Tema

THE Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) has started an embossment exercise to maintain the security and identity of all taxis operating in the Tema Municipality.
The exercise, which is in collaboration with Convenant Investment Limited, is expected to cover about 5,000 taxis. So far, about 2,200 taxis have been registered.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Officer of the TMA, Mr Frank Asante, said all taxis were expected to register for the embossment because it was for the security of both the drivers and passengers.
He noted that the purpose was to ensure that all taxis and their drivers were identified to raise the confidence of passengers when they joined the taxis for their services.
Mr Asante said records on drivers were very important because the services they rendered covered the entire municipality and visitors to the community.
He appealed to taxi drivers who had not registered yet to do so to avoid any future confrontation with the law, adding that "the exercise is partnered by the assembly and it is important for drivers to patronise it".
He further pledged the support of the assembly to deliver quality services to drivers in the municipality.
On sanitation, Mr Asante noted that the municipality was clean enough and that the assembly would continue to have regular clean-up exercises, especially with the hosting of the Ghana 2008 tournament.
He confirmed that the security agencies had intensified patrols, noting that street lights had been provided, a development which had led to a reduced crime rate in the municipality.
The Project Manager of Convenant Investment, Mr George Amoah-Danquah, said the system being used for the exercise included an information display unit which had the drivers’ addresses, names and pictures which tallied with what had been put on the identity cards.
Mr Amoah-Danquah made it known that each driver was made to pay GH¢30 for the exercise because of the special features which made it security convenient and unattractive for thieves to steal the cars.
He noted that the exercise was initially slow, with the registration of only 10 cars a day, but it had gradually increased to 100 cars daily.
A survey conducted by the Daily Graphic indicated that the drivers were happy with the system because it would help them to be identified as registered professional drivers.
Some of them also claimed that passengers would be at home to join taxis because of late there had been infiltration of dubious characters into the rank and file of the drivers.
They explained that in recent times passengers had tended to doubt the character of taxi drivers and would only join taxis which they had known over the years.
The drivers were of the view that the embossment would also stop the discrimination between floating and station drivers.