By Oumie Mendy
The Gambia Transport Union president has confirmed to The Standard that his union has sent a proposal for transport increment to the Ministry of Finance for their consideration.
Omar Ceesay said the increment is necessary to help drivers stay in business as fuel prices are skyrocketing.
“We wrote to the government about the increment in transport fares, because we had an agreement with the government in 2021 that if fuel prices are increased to 20% the fares will be increased too. Now that the fuel prices have been increased to almost 41%, we wrote to the ministry of finance and we hope they will consider our proposal,” Ceesay told The Standard.
Ceesay said the government recently called a meeting with all relevant stakeholders in the transport sector to discuss the issue and there was a compromise reached by both parties.
“We are now waiting on their response but we have agreed on something already and that is there will be 30% increment for town taxis, vehicles charging below D50 will have 20% increment, those above D50 to D100 will have 15% and those above D100 will have 12% increment whiles there will be 10% increment on goods,” Ceesay said. “The Union is there to protect the welfare of its members who are the drivers,” he added.
Ceesay said the union has also written to the ministry of trade appealing for the government to develop an employment policy to provide job security for the informal sector.
