Minority against Gold for Oil policy because they don’t want Ghanaians to buy petrol at cheaper price – Egyapa Mercer

Andre Egyapa Mercer

Member of Parliament (MP) for Sekondi, Andrew Egyapa Mercer has accused the Minority in Parliament of praying for the government’s Gold for Oil policy to fail.

This according to him, is because the Minority does not want Ghanaians to benefit from the low pricing of petroleum products.

“They have consistently sought for this policy to fail because if you listen to the comment of our friends from the other side on social media and mainstream media, their intent is for Ghanaians not to benefit from low pricing of petroleum products,” Andrew Egyapa Mercer said while speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, March 16.

The Sekondi MP added, “That gold-for-oil policy is rather what has come in to help address the rampant increase in foreign exchange so that the Ghaian community can have the benefit of low prices at the pump.”

In the discussions that ensued in Parliament, the Minority warned that the Gold for Oil Policy has the potential of making the Bank of Ghana heavily indebted.

Speaking in the house, Deputy Minority Leader, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah rejected the claim by Vice President, H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia that the drop in the prices of petroleum products in the country is because of the Gold for Oil policy introduced by the government.

He argued that the drop in prices at the pumps is due to a reduction in crude prices globally.

“There is nowhere in this world where we do batter trade for oil, somebody should tell me where you take your gold and then you take the oil, there is nowhere in this world. So there is nothing like gold for oil.

“The Vice President is saying that petroleum prices are going down because of gold for oil, he is a vice president and he wants to be president, and so I am going to be very charitable but frankly, his advisors should advise him. The reason why petroleum prices have gone down is that crude prices were over 100 dollars and it got down to 72 dollars per barrel globally, it has nothing to do with Bawumia, it has nothing to do with gold for oil. It is shocking, it is unthinkable and this must be investigated," Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah stressed.