PNC bemoans increase in petroleum prices
The leadership of the People’s National Convention (PNC) have called on organised labour, civil society organisations and ordinary Ghanaians to exert more pressure on the government to lower drastically or remove entirely the taxes on petroleum that have culminated in the higher transport fares.
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Observing with great disquiet the recent increases in tariffs and petroleum prices, the PNC stated that these paradoxical increases had happened at a time when economies were enjoying respite due to reduction in world crude oil prices.
Government’s insensitivity
In a statement signed by Mr Atik Mohammed, the General Secretary of the party, it stated that these increases, constituted a climax of the government’s insensitivity to the Ghanaian people.
According to the PNC, these cruel increases had dire implications on the social and economic lives of the people.
“Energy is a major factor input in many production processes, therefore an increase such as that which we have witnessed recently, tends to raise the cost of production. Consequently, consumers are made to pay more for goods and services,” it stated.
Recognising that real incomes in the country continued to suffer a downward spiral, the PNC pointed out that these increases were nothing less than insensitivity to the people, stating that the effects of the hikes in petroleum prices were beginning to manifest.
It stated that last Sunday, the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU) came out with an upward review of their fares up to 15per cent.
“The implication is that the already overburdened Ghanaian is now going to pay higher for transportation,” it stated.
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Furthermore, the PNC mentioned that, as fares increase, prices of goods and services equally would rise leading to higher inflation, higher cost of living and lower incentive to work.
Management failings
“We in the PNC find it difficult to understand why the government has decided deliberately to punish Ghanaians for their own incompetence and management failings,” it stated.
It said that after mismanaging the country’s resources through corruption and irrational expenditures, the Mahama led administration seems now to be possessed by “the spirit of over taxation”.
So that, at every turn, the government is sniffing for openings to squeeze all kinds of taxes from Ghanaians, it stated.
That attitude, the PNC asserted, was what had accounted for the recent unfortunate petroleum price hikes and the resultant increases in sachet water price and transport fares.
“Ghanaians have suffered and continue to suffer job losses on daily basis because of rising cost of doing business under the NDC government. This latest increase in fares only contributes to worsening the situation. A party that promised to “care for you” is now by all accounts, “caring less about you”. It does not care what happens to your wellbeing when transport fares rise and therefore, will instigate higher petroleum prices without any critical thought at the slightest opportunity,” the PNC maintained. It added that “the culpability for the increase in transport fares should be placed squarely on the NDC government and not the GPRTU.”
In the midst of all these hardship, the PNC said it was encouraged that Ghanaians now had an opportunity to end this cycle by choosing that political alternative which promised a new beginning, new deal, and a new hope.