Dreadful News

President John Mahama 
Yesterday Ghanaians received a news item they have always dreaded. Upping the prices of various petroleum products at this time of the country's economic history is not one to rejoice over.

It is not surprising therefore that many have wondered why the increase is coming at all, especially having been assured earlier that no such  thing was going to happen at least for now.

Trust is an important virtue in the relationship between the government and the governed. Unfortunately, this virtue has escaped through the window perhaps never to return as long as we have the crop of people managing our affairs as a government.

We wonder what would have befallen the government if it had told us the truth about an impending fuel price hike. Over time we have had the misfortune of listening to untruths from a government which has earned for itself this unenviable attribute of mendacity.

When the governed lose trust in those manning the affairs of state, success becomes an endangered quality as it is now.

President John Mahama must rethink this worrying attribute of his administration - lies - lest he continues to lose the confidence of the people. Things have become so bad that any word coming out of the mouth of the government is taken with a large quantity of salt.

Even before the announcement regarding the increases in the prices of petroleum products, some of us suspected that such an action was in the pipeline.

Not even the assurance by government that no such thing was going to happen could alter our position. Now that it has come to pass, we have been vindicated.

We understand that certain considerations went into the final decision to increase the prices of petroleum products. Be it as it may, we are pained that Ghanaians are paying for the mismanagement of an economy which should not have been in the state it finds itself today.

At the time it was decided by some politicians at the helm to empty the coffers of state as a means of altering the outcome of the elections, little did the beneficiaries of the political manoeuvres know that in the not-too-distant future the chickens would come home to roost and the truth would be out.

Today we have reached that destination and the people of Ghana are paying the price of the mess others perpetrated.

Another lie: this issue of the removal of subsidy was brought to the public domain as a ploy for increasing the prices of petroleum products. The fact is that we know that subsidies have long been removed and so turning round now to create the impression that the action has just been effected beats our imagination. It just accentuates the negative impression most people have about the integrity of our government. This is horrible! As for the effects of the upped prices of fuel, it can be evidenced in the number of businesses that would fold up or struggle to survive as workers are showed the exit by distressed employers.