Director of Communications for the New Patriotic Party says government is being economical with the truth on the recent fuel price hikes.
Nana Akomea said the hikes have nothing to do with increase of crude oil on the international market, but have everything to do with the jetting fall of the cedi.
"It cannot be that the price of oil has undergone some dramatic increase. Indeed since July last year up to today the price of oil fell to about 50 per cent and we have had a reduction of only about ten per cent.
"Last year the cedi lost 31 per cent in value and this year from January to today it has lost 19 per cent. So the main driving force behind this increase is the fall in the value of the cedi," he stated.
Akomea wondered why Ghanaians should bear the agony of paying for government's own incompentence in managing the value of cedi.
He said unlike the NPP era where crude oil rose on the international market to $147 per barrel which forced a marginal increase in prices of fuel products in Ghana, the prices of crude oil have remained largely stable on the international market over the last ten months and nothing more can be blamed on the recent hikes than an unstable cedi.
Government officials have partly attributed the recent hikes to the strict implementation of the deregulation policy but Nana Akomea said the government is being dishonest.
"The government is not being honest with Ghanaians and trying to hide under the deregulation will not save them.
"There are two main drivers of petrol. The first one is the price of the dollar and the second one is the price of oil because you have to change the cedis into dollars to be able to buy the oil.
"You can have the price of the oil being stable but if you have the price of the dollar changing you come under the pressure," he explained.
Asaga's hypocrisy
Nana Akomea expressed surprise over a comment attributed to the boss of the National Petroleum Authority Moses Asaga who claimed Ghanaians are being hypocritical on the fuel matter.
Asaga did not understand why Ghanaians are complaining about the hikes when majority of them are buying luxurious vehicles some of which cost $60,000.
But in a quick rebuttal Nana Akomea said "Moses Asaga is not serious."
He said the NPA boss cannot ask Ghanaians to bear the consequences of government's own incompetence.
He said Asaga should be the last person to call Ghanaians hypocritical.
According to him when Asaga was the minority spokesperson for energy in 2006, he questioned a marginal hike in prices of fuel imposed by the erstwhile NPP administration and called on Ghanaians to condemn and resist it because it was going to make life unbearable for them.
He found it rather intriguing that the same man will now turn around and call others hypocritical when he, Akomea said, has exhibited more hypocrisy on the issue than any other person.
He rejected claims that all politicians in Ghana are hypocritical on the fuel politics, adding the situation the NPP faced in 2008 cannot be the same as what is happening in Ghana now.
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