GEA Proposes 2-Phase Tariff Increase

Charles Coffie - GEA President

The Ghana Employers Association (GEA) has called for a review of the new tariffs that were recently announced by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC).

Suggesting a two-phase step, the GEA said a 49 percent average increase in electricity tariffs for the rest of this year and a 20 percent increase for next year will do.

For water, it proposed a 36 percent increase.
Charles Coffie, President of GEA, made the proposal at a Chief Executives' Breakfast Seminar organized by GEA in Accra recently under the theme, “Impact of Counterfeit Goods and Illicit Trade on Investment Promotion in Ghana.”

Describing the manner in which the PURC earlier announced the tariff increases as insensitive, Mr. Coffie, who is also the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Unilever Ghana Limited, stated that the adjustment engendered an increment of between 131 percent for the lower power-consuming companies and 200 percent in the high power consuming category.

He averred that the current tariffs rendered between 170 and 200 percent average increases for the steel, textiles and garments, pharmaceutical industries to the extent that it gravely negated the competitiveness of small-scale enterprises which constitute over 80 per cent of GEA's membership.

In an appeal to Betty Mould-Iddrisu, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, he said “We would not enhance Ghana's reputation as the next frontier investment destination if our enforcement and regulatory bodies like Food and Drugs Board (FDB) and Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) are ill-equipped to check country of origin certificates which enables unscrupulous importers to exploit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) duty rates.”

GEA, he further noted, would appeal to the Minister of Justice to hasten work to resolve disputes over intellectual property rights and heighten intellectual property protection.

“Counterfeiting of any product that presents a health or safety hazard to consumers could be treated as a criminal offence with possible mandatory prison term,” he added.

By Samuel Boadi