Drivers give gov’t one week ultimatum to reduce fuel prices
The Concerned Drivers Association of Ghana (C-DAG) has given a one-week ultimatum to government to reduce fuel prices or the Association will be forced to take drastic decisions.
The threat by C-DAG follows the continuous increase in petroleum products within just three months into the year.
Prices of petroleum products are expected to shoot up by at least 5 per cent from Wednesday, March 16, 2022, the Institute for Energy Security (IES) has projected.
In its projections for the March 2022 Second Pricing Window, which will take effect from March 16, 2022, to March 31, 2022, the IES said the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) will go up by 3 per cent whereas petrol and diesel would go up by 5 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.
The drivers noted that the GHC 8.44 mark per litre of petrol is highly abnormal and causing unbearable hardship on them.
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“The continuous increment should never be justified by the government with the Russia-Ukraine war and the continuous falling of the potency of the Cedi as against the US dollar.
“It must be critically observed that the tax component on the price of a litre of petrol is a major contributor to the abnormal rate. We strongly believe that the taxes, when removed, will aid the reduction of the price of petrol. It must be noted that one major promise of this government was to remove the taxes on petrol,” the group said in a statement.
The drivers further reminded President Akufo-Addo of the rights of Ghanaians to call on the government to subsidise fuel prices when that of the world market rises.
They therefore called on the President to act according to the promises he made.
‘We wish to remind the President that, Ghana is an oil-producing country and so we possess every right to call on the government to have petrol subsidised for us in circumstances where the world market price rises’.
‘’President Akufo Addo should remember that, then in opposition, he promised us during a campaign tour at Kwame Nkrumah Circle that, he was going to reduce petrol prices for us should we vote for him. Today, he is in his second term as President but has deliberately chosen to forget about that key promise. It’s about time he woke up from his slumber to act quickly,’’ the Association noted.
