A study into some selected areas of GPRTU operations: a case study of the Kumasi Metropolis

The GPRTU is one of the 17 unions of the TUC of Ghana established primarily to operate road transport services for: • Transportation of people from place to place across the country. • Transportation of food and other goods from place to place across the country. The GPRTU therefore engages in crucial business, which is concerned with the movement of goods and people geographically. An observation of the GPRTU within the Kumasi Metropolis revealed that some selected areas of operation such as training, documentation and record keeping, welfare facilities for both members and clients and road accident prevention are characterized with inefficiencies. The General Objective of the study is to conduct a study into some selected areas of GPRTU operations within the Kumasi Metropolis. The Specific Objectives are as follows: • To examine the training programmes of GPRTU within the Kumasi Metropolis. • To assess the documentation and proper record keeping system of GPRTU within the Kumasi Metropolis. • To examine the welfare facilities of the GPRTU within the Kumasi Metropolis. • To examine preventive measures put in place by the GPRTU to prevent road accidents within the Kumasi Metropolis. • To make recommendations that may be adopted for adequate improvement in its operations. The study therefore focused on these areas in order to come out with recommendations and suggestions for improving upon them. The hypothesis upon which the study was conducted is, some selected areas of GPRTU operations are bedeviled with inefficiencies. A cross sectional description design was used. The study was conducted in the 85 branches of the union within the Kumasi Metropolis. The study population consisted of the officers in the 85 branches, GPRTU drivers and the travelling public. They were interviewed with the aid of a structured interview guide. The Senior Industrial Relations Officer and his assistant of the Ashanti Regional Secretariat of the GPRTU were also interviewed. Findings at the branch level showed that training, documentation and record keeping, welfare facilities and road accident prevention were given little or no attention by the GPRTU in the Kumasi Metropolis. The GPRTU has no training policy for its members neither has it got qualified personnel to perform the secretarial and accounting duties which form major part of its operations. Provision of welfare facilities for both members and clients are woefully inadequate because the union focuses too much on bereavement benefits at the peril of other welfare facilities such as provision of canteen for members, establishment of credit unions for the members, making available soft loans to members in times of distress, social security and insurance schemes for members. Measures put in place to prevent road accidents within the Kumasi Metropolis are inadequate. The perception of the travelling public on GPRTU training, documentation and record keeping, provision of welfare facilities and road accident prevention is generally poor. This is not different from the views expressed by the GPRTU drivers and some of the officers of the GPRTU. The hypothesis that “some selected areas of the GPRTU operations within the Kumasi Metropolis are bedevilled with inefficiencies” is therefore confirmed.

Source: KNUST