The Sofoline Drivers’ Association in Kumasi on Monday, July 4 resisted attempts by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to evict them.
The eviction, according to the KMA, is to make way for the terminal to be redeveloped.
The drivers wore red armbands in protest. In April this year, the drivers similarly wore red armbands and refused to commute passengers to their various destinations in protest against the decision of the AMA to relocate them.
The drivers argued that they had been informed that there were private investors the KMA wanted to award the contract to in the form of a BOT (Build, Operate, and Transfer) agreement, which they did not agree to.
They wanted to know the source of the KMA’s funds for the construction of the terminal and have demanded that Mayor Kojo Bonsu appends his signature to whatever letter of notification is addressed to them. They also asked that the mayor personally addresses meetings that they have called at the KMA, all of which have not been complied with.
According to Class News’ Ashanti regional correspondent Hafiz Tijani, the drivers claim that the KMA had not given them a proper place to relocate because their current location gave them easy access to passengers, but they had heard that where they were going to be relocated would not be favourable.
Hafiz said that the drivers were not against the construction of a new terminal but against the processes.
