The Chief Executive Officer of STC, Nana Akomea
• Nana Akomea has revealed that STC loses an amount of GH¢2.2 million each month due to the closure of Ghana’s land borders.
• He has stated that some GH¢10 million which was donated to the Company by the government for payment of workers was not enough
• Mr Akomea details that the country has so far lost almost GH¢37 million due to the negative impact of Coronavirus on the State Transport Corporation (STC)
The State Transport Corporation (STC) has lost close to GH¢37 million as a result of the impact of Coronavirus, this is according to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Nana Akomea.
Speaking in an interview on Krokrokoo Morning Show monitored by GhanaWeb on May 18, 2021, Mr Akomea noted that almost GH¢37 million has been lost in revenue from March 2020 to May 2021.
“Right from March 2020 when we placed restrictions on the country due to covid, STC has lost almost GH¢37 million due to Covid-19.”
“In March 2020, we lost GH¢5.2 million because we weren’t operating at the time. After the lockdown, we introduced social distancing in our buses. We were operating at half capacity. So for instance, a bus that initially carried 40 passengers only allowed 20 passengers on board. From petrol to paying our drivers everything depended on us. In all the 5 months that we observed social distancing, STC lost GH¢1.5million cedis, multiply it by 5 months… we lost huge sums of money.”
He again indicated that the closure of the country’s land borders has also contributed to the woes of STC as buses that used to operate in neighbouring countries no longer do so due to Ghana’s border closure which forms part of the government’s measures in curbing the importation of the virus.
“Again, with the closure of our land borders due to COVID-19, our operations at Cote d’Ivoire, Abidjan, Ouagadougou, Lome, and Cotonou generated GH¢2.2 million at the end of every month but due to the border closure we haven’t been operational for the last 14 months. We lost GH¢2.2 million for every single month,” Nana Akomea lamented.
The CEO of STC however noted that the government provided his outfit with an amount of GH¢10 million to cushion the company. He indicated the monies were used to settle the salaries of its workers.
He said: “The government of Ghana supported us with GH¢10 million as payment of salaries but that wasn’t even enough. Apart from the negative impact of Covid on the economy, our social life wasn’t left out, we can’t even go for funerals, our whole life has been disrupted. Those in Hostel and Tourism Industry were massively hit.”