In northern Ghana, a suspicion has taken root that the State Transport Company favors the south, sending its failing buses to the Upper East Region. The company's Deputy Managing Director, Alhaji Nuru Hamidan, has answered that the trouble lies not in intent but in scarcity, since STC simply does not have enough buses to serve everyone well. Whether a shortage that falls hardest on the north can be told apart from a quiet bias is a question the region's residents have been living with on every cancelled journey.
STC denies bus allocation discrimination against Upper East Region, blames fleet shortage
Residents of the Upper East Region face disrupted transport, breakdowns and cancelled routes.
Everybody in Ghana knows that STC does not have enough buses.
Mark
Why does this denial matter beyond a back-and-forth between officials?
Mimi
Because people in the Upper East are dealing with breakdowns, ticketing trouble and cancelled routes. Whether it's bias or shortage, the service is what they feel.
Mark
What exactly is STC saying?
Mimi
That it doesn't allocate buses by region. Buses run on schedules, and a passenger's booking is served by whatever bus is available.
Luke
Worth noting that's STC describing its own system. The report doesn't include any independent check of which buses actually go where.
Mark
And the minister's side?
Mimi
Donatus Atanga Akamugri raised the breakdowns, ticketing difficulties and cancellations. The allegation of deliberately sending unroadworthy buses is what STC is answering.
Luke
I'd be careful there. The source says concerns were raised; it doesn't quote the minister making the discrimination claim himself, and it doesn't give fleet figures.
Mark
What about the GH partnership?
Mimi
GH has 50 buses on the Kumasi-Accra route, and STC wants it extended north.
Luke
That's a hope, not a deal. No timeline, no confirmation from GH.
Mark
So what's settled?
Luke
Only that STC admits a fleet shortage. Everything about intent is still one side's word.
Der Puls
- Breakdowns, ticketing failures and cancelled routes have left Upper East travelers stranded and unsure when a bus will come.
- Regional Minister Donatus Atanga Akamugri has publicly accused the state carrier of giving unroadworthy buses to the north.
- STC flatly rejects any deliberate geographic assignment, insisting that buses go wherever passenger demand and schedules send them.
- The company is courting private operator GH to extend its 50-bus Kumasi-Accra partnership into northern Ghana, with no timeline yet confirmed.
- The two accounts remain unreconciled, and the region waits to see whether the new buses arrive or the complaints simply continue.
In northern Ghana, a suspicion has taken root that the State Transport Company favors the south, sending its failing buses to the Upper East Region. The company's Deputy Managing Director, Alhaji Nuru Hamidan, has answered that the trouble lies not in intent but in scarcity, since STC simply does not have enough buses to serve everyone well. Whether a shortage that falls hardest on the north can be told apart from a quiet bias is a question the region's residents have been living with on every cancelled journey.
For many months, the people of the Upper East Region have measured their journeys by luck. Buses break down on the road, tickets go wrong at the counter, and routes are cancelled without much warning. The regional minister, Donatus Atanga Akamugri, has taken these complaints to the public and pressed the point further: he believes the worst buses are being sent north, while better ones serve the south.
The State Transport Company has answered with a firm denial. Speaking to Citi News, Deputy Managing Director Alhaji Nuru Hamidan said the company does not assign vehicles by geography. A bus is dispatched on its schedule, and whichever one is free takes the passenger who has booked a seat. There are no buses set aside for Kumasi, Cape Coast or anywhere else.
Hamidan did not pretend the service is sound. He acknowledged that STC is short of buses, a fact he said is widely known and one the company has explained in many interviews. What he rejected was the charge of intent.
To ease the shortage, STC points to a partnership with the private operator GH, which has bought 50 buses to run on the Kumasi-Accra corridor. The company now wants that arrangement widened to other parts of the country, including the north. Hamidan said some of those buses could be deployed there if the talks succeed, though no commitment or timeline has been given.
The disagreement is still open. The minister sees a pattern in the north, and STC sees a network stretched thin everywhere. Meanwhile, the people who wait at the bus stations of the Upper East carry the cost either way.
The State Transport Company has rejected a charge that has been building in northern Ghana: that the best buses go south and the worn-out ones are sent to the Upper East Region. Speaking to Citi News, the company's Deputy Managing Director, Alhaji Nuru Hamidan, said STC does not assign vehicles by geography at all.
The denial answers concerns raised by Donatus Atanga Akamugri, the Upper East Regional Minister. He had pointed to frequent bus breakdowns, difficulties with ticketing and cancelled routes, all of which have disrupted transport services in the region. The allegation that followed from those complaints was that buses not fit for the road were being deliberately given to the Upper East and other parts of the north.
Hamidan did not dispute that the service has problems. He said plainly that everyone in Ghana knows STC does not have enough buses, and that the company has granted numerous interviews to explain its fleet challenges and account for its operations. What he rejected was the idea of intent.
According to him, STC does not set particular buses aside for particular regions. Buses run on schedules, and when a passenger books a ticket, whichever bus is available serves that journey. He said there are no vehicles reserved for Kumasi, Cape Coast or any other destination, and so, in his words, there is no discrimination. The company's wider position is that deployment follows passenger demand, availability and operational schedules.
Hamidan also described help arriving from the private sector. STC, he said, has what he called alliance buses: a company identified as GH has acquired 50 buses and partnered with STC to run them on the Kumasi-Accra route. The source does not give further detail on the terms of that arrangement.
The company is now appealing to GH to widen the arrangement beyond that corridor. Hamidan said STC is engaging the operator about extending the partnership to other parts of the country, northern Ghana included. If that happens, he said, some of those buses would be deployed there. No timeline or commitment from GH was reported.
The two accounts are not easily reconciled. The regional minister describes a pattern of unreliable service in the Upper East; STC describes a shortage that affects its whole network and a scheduling system that does not look at destination. Residents of the region are the ones living with the breakdowns and cancelled routes either way.
What to watch is whether the GH partnership is extended north, and whether the regional minister's office responds to STC's explanation of how buses are assigned.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
We do not allocate specific buses to specific regions; our buses operate on schedules.— Alhaji Nuru Hamidan, STC Deputy Managing Director
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