If you need cheap oil you don’t trade gold; take off taxes – Sam George

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo Prampram, Samuel Nartey George has once again criticised the government, this time on its Gold for Oil initiative.

In his view, the programme is proof of just how the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is incompetent.

Speaking during an engagement on TV3 on Monday, February 6, Sam George alleged that government through its Gold for Oil initiative is taking wealth from the Bulk Oil Distributors.

“You are taking wealth from the Bulk Oil Distributors (BDCs) and giving to a company Litasco, where a family member of the president has an interest in. They are not just incompetent, they are not just inefficient they are ripping us off,” the Ningo Prampram MP argued.

According to him, if indeed government wants to make fuel cheaper for Ghanaians, then the way to go is not to trade the country’s gold for oil.

“If you need cheap oil you don’t trade gold, take off the taxes,” Sam George stressed.

The prime objective of the Gold for Oil programme is to use additional foreign exchange resources from the Bank of Ghana's Domestic Gold Purchase(DGP) programme to provide foreign currency for the importation of petroleum products for the country which currently stands at about US$350 million per month.

The implementation of the government's Gold for Oil programme commenced with the arrival of the first consignment of about 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel on January 15, 2023, valued at about US$40 million.