CJA blasts government over fuel prices

The Committee for Joint Action has once again descended heavily on the Kufuor administration for the recent increases in prices of petroleum products.

The Committee described the administration as one that has no feeling over the hardship it has already imposed on the people per the electricity “wahala” and rather made it worse by increasing prices of petroleum products.

The CJA said in a press statement on Tuesday that it was at a loss in understanding how the Kufuor administration could do that at a time when through its incompetence the nation is going through the worst electricity crisis in our history, leading to a situation where every three days the Ghanaian has to do without electricity for 24 hours.

The statement signed by a leading member of the CJA, Mr Bernard Mornah, said it was surprised at government's action, because the Associated Press crude oil prices briefly touched $63 a barrel last week following continued tensions between Iran and the West. It said the current Iran/Western nation's crisis is temporary and therefore should not be used as justification for increasing the prices of petroleum products at this time.

The CJA insisted that the recent increases in the prices of petroleum products are unjustifiable and that government should review downwards the taxes and levies imposed on those products to mitigate the hardships imposed on Ghanaians by the incompetence and bad economic policies of the government.

The statement pointed out that the Committee is concerned about the current energy situation in the country which has pushed industries into generating their own electricity through the acquisition of generators which is much more expensive and adds to their overhead costs.

It explained that, the cost of production for industries has thus gone up as a result of the electricity crisis, but they are doing all they can to stay in production and keep their workers in employment.

The CJA stated that if there is no let off in the situation soon, industries would have no choice but to start dismissing workers to keep their production costs under control. It said if that happens, the unemployment situation which is already at intolerable levels would get worse raining greater hardships on Ghanaians.

Source: The Independent