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| Cocoa stranded at Takoradi Port |
1/10/2007 |
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Yaaba Yamikeh , 10/01/2007
A cocoa product
Cocoa haulage drivers at the Takoradi port who have queued for over a month awaiting the discharge of their loads have given the management of Cocoa Marketing Services a two-day ultimatum to offload their trucks or face their anger.
The drivers say they will stop the company''s staff from working if management fails to meet their demand by the end of the ultimatum period which is Thursday January 11.
The angry drivers, who embarked on a peaceful demonstration at the premises of the company near the port last Tuesday also complained that the company was using their "mates” (assistants) as labourers.
Information available to The Statesman reveals that the company"s registered labourers have been on a two week strike due to its refusal to increase their allowances and also pay their six months arrears.
Speaking to The Statesman the spokesman for the drivers, Mallam Boakye Mustapha, said that as a result of the labourers’ strike action, offloading of cocoa at the part has been very slow, leading to a long queue of trucks on the streets.
He said while waiting for their trucks to be offloaded, many of the drivers spend months in the twin-city, sleeping in the open and at the mercy of all manner of dangerous and harmful animals and insects, including mosquitoes.
He said to ease congestion at the port, the company has resorted to using the drivers’ mates as substitute labourers. The spokesperson said what is even more infuriating is that after promising to pay ¢100,000 to the drivers’ assistants for offloading every two thousand tonnage, it ends up paying only ¢75,000.
He also accused the company of failing to honour its promise of promptly offloading trucks of drivers whose assistants offered themselves as substitute labourers.
According to Mallam Mustapha, many of them drive as far as Sefwi Wiawso, Kumasi and Enchi to the Takoradi port for shipment of their loads but end up spending over a month on the streets of Sekondi -Takoradi waiting to be offloaded due to the absence of the labourers.
It was against this background that he urged management of the company to urgently address the impasse between the labourers before the inevitable happens.
Attempts by this reporter to meet the Regional Director of COCOBOD for his version of the story proved futile; the official rather directed this reporter to Cocoa House in Accra for any comment or clarification of the issue.
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