It
has been announced that with effect from 21 August 2017, all transport tariffs
and fares will be reduced.
The
reduction in transport fares and tariffs, according to the Minister of
Transport, Works and Infrastructure, was necessitated by the fact that there
has been some significant decrease in domestic retail price of fuel hence the
trickle-down effect must be realised in the fares being paid by the general
public.
We
would therefore like to commend the authorities, especially the transport
ministry, for a well-thought-out move and decision to ensure there is fair game
in faring our way around. The other fulfilling aspect of it is that all close
stakeholders to the issue were involved in taking the decision, and according
to reports all sides of the dice seemed to be in line and satisfied with the
move.
Our
other concern in the issue for now is that this decision, come 21 August this
year - barely six days from today, must be respected and enforced to ensure
that the objective of giving our people a fair deal in the cost of living in
this country is achieved.
While
drivers and commercial vehicle owners are to respect and observe the reduction
in the fares and tariffs, the police and the interpreters of the law are also
expected to enforce the ruling
In
the same vein we are appealing to the government to also look critically at
reviewing prices of essential goods and services in the country to ease the
increasing burden of price rise on the life of the people, who continue to
receive meager salaries that are hardly enough to meet their cost of living,
talk less about living a standard life for the majority of our people.
We
would also like to suggest to the Barrow administration and the Ministry of
Transport and Works to secure and provide more government buses for public
transportation to help ease the constraints faced by the people, especially
students and workers, as they go about their daily movement to work, study and
transact their businesses. This, in deed, would help our society a lot, for
instance, to be more productive to contribute to the gross domestic product and
gross national income of our nation.
Furthermore,
the Barrow government would also do well to consider reviewing the cost of rent
in the country, as the increasing cost of rent in this country keeps making
life hard and unbearable for the majority of people of this land.
We
hope and pray that the government is able to change things for the better for
our people. There are two ways to maintain the economic life of an individual
or a nation; that is, by being productive to generate income that can upkeep
life and by being prudent in spending or cutting down expenditure. Both are
applied together most of the times and either of the two is applied when the
situation calls for that.
“As
we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is
not to utter words, but to live by them”
John
F. Kennedy
