A dispute between tipper drivers and an assembly task force over the payment of a quarry development subsidy in Gomoa Ojobi, Central Region, wounded two individuals.
The quarry development fund was established in 2021 with the goal of using the funds to build communities near the quarries. Tipper drivers were required to pay between GH80 and GH100 for every trip to the task force, which was then forwarded to the assembly coffers.
The Protoa tipper truck drivers from Kasoa, on the other hand, opposed the move and refused to pay the required sum to the assembly during their collection yesterday. The task force arrived this morning to collect the funds, culminating in a brutal brawl that wounded two persons.
The drivers were unaware of the revised sums, according to Benjamin Ankomah, president of the Protoa Tipper Drivers Association.
“The task force arrived this morning and engaged our members in a fight over quarry development fund payments.” They compelled our members to pay between GH8 and GH100 for every trip. However, our arrangement with them was to pay GH15. The task force has been harsh to our members. “We took some to the Awutu Bereku health centre,” Ankomah explained.
Solomon Darko Quarm, the District Chief Executive for Gomoa East, told Citi News that the fee had been approved by the assembly but refuted reports that the assembly task force physically beat the drivers.
“It is not true that our revenue task force assaulted the Tipper Drivers. It was the drivers who attacked our men instead. What money the task force is collecting has been sanctioned by the Assembly. A driver of the task force was severely injured and has been rushed to the hospital. The collectors are operating within the mandate given to them,” the DCE said.
