RELEASE 20 TRANSIT TRUCKS — YAYA (PAGE 3)

THE Country Representative of the Burkina Faso Shippers Council, Mr Yedan Yaya, has appealed to the authorities of the Tema Motorway Axle Load Control Unit to release 20 transit trucks which are being held by the unit for overloading.
He claimed that since the drivers had pleaded guilty and been fined by a circuit court, they should be pardoned and cautioned not to indulge in the practice again.
Mr Yaya made the call when commenting on the stranded trucks and their detention at the Tema Motorway Axle Load Control Unit for the past three weeks for load shedding after an order from a circuit court in Ashaiman.
The Tema Axle Load Control Unit has, for the past month, intensified its operations to ensure that transit trucks do not load above the permissible weight, a practice which has contributed to the deterioration of the country's roads.
As a result of the action, all overloaded trucks using the Motorway were impounded by the unit and processed for court by the police.
According to the Ghana Highway Authority Axle Load Control Law, trucks found guilty of the offence will have their seals broken and the excess cargo unloaded by Customs, Excise and Preventive Service personnel to enable the truck to continue the journey with the permissible weight.
The Axle Load Unit, as a result of its action, has started with the load shedding but the truck drivers have not provided vehicles for the transfer of the goods, bringing the operations of the unit to a halt.
Mr Yaya was not happy that the unit had, all of a sudden, decided to impound overloaded trucks.
He explained that though the law on shedding excess load and prosecuting offending drivers had existed since 2006, the intensity of the enforcement had not been communicated to the drivers.
He made it known that the drivers expected the law to be enforced but that unfortunately the enforcement had come earlier than expected.
Mr Yaya gave the assurance that if granted the freedom to go, the drivers would henceforth abide by the law.
The Chief Executive of the Tema Axle Load Control Unit, Mr Albert Owusu-Ansah, was against the views of the drivers, indicating that 85 per cent of transit truck drivers diverted their courses by using unapproved routes.
He said most of the recalcitrant drivers drove Burkina Faso-bound trucks, emphasising that trucks enroute to Niger had kept faith with the unit because that country had strictly enforced the law.