A number of residents of Accra have expressed grave reservations about suggestions that the government should remove fuel subsidies, saying such a move will rather compound the already harsh economic conditions facing Ghanaians.
Rather, they have asked the government to develop an innovative way of solving the problem, instead of always hiking fuel prices with the excuse that it will come up with social mitigation measures for the poor but which never materialise.
Some city dwellers who spoke to the Daily Graphic yesterday questioned the claim by the government that it was subsidising fuel prices which contained huge tax components.
Others also pointed out that people in authority were always in a rush to increase fuel prices because they never used their hard-earned incomes to buy fuel.
Already, civil society organisations such as the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Imani Ghana, ISODEC and the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) have strongly kicked against the proposed fuel price increases.
According to the government, from 2009 to 2012, it subsidised fuel products to the tune of GH¢1.5 billion.
The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) forecasts that subsidising fuel prices this year will cost the government about GH¢2.4 billion.
Pouring his heart out at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) Trotro Station in Accra, a 46-year-old driver, Mr Andrews Badu, stated that the removal of subsidies on fuel prices would mean the “government purposely wants to destroy the transport business in the country”.
“What is the reason behind the call to remove subsidies on fuel prices? Is it to ensure that the government gets enough revenue to fuel the activities of other sectors of the economy? Whatever the reason, the government should not forget that some of us in the driving business will suffer,” he said.
Sounding very religious, Mr T. Tandoh, who claimed to have worked as a taxi driver for 16 years, said, “I’m not bothered.”
He said his family had, over the past decade, leaned on the mercies and provisions of God such that “I, particularly, care very little about fuel subsidies”.
However, Mr Tandoh said, the removal of subsidies on fuel prices would, without doubt, affect the livelihood of many drivers.
Mr Eric Adjei doubted whether the government was really subsidising fuel prices and asked: “How can the government be subsidising and yet we continue to pay so much for fuel?”
“What is the essence of having oil on our shores and yet suffering so much? Where is the oil money?” he quizzed.
At Abuja, a slum near Accra Brewery, Ms Efua Attah, a tomato seller, said she joined a long queue overnight to vote only for her taxes to be used to fund the lavish lifestyles of MPs.
She said any increases in fuel prices would lead to her becoming jobless.
Another trader, Nana Ama Yeboah, noted that members of government promised to be of great help to market women when they were craving for power but now “one can clearly see they were all lies; otherwise the government will not come up with this”.
“We are suffering and if the government doesn’t come to our aid, we will take action. Again, the goods are not as expensive as the tax on them.The goods are like cocaine,” she said.
Reacting to the issue on Facebook, Mr Eric Agboada, a National Service person, did not mince words when he said, “I totally disagree with Mr Alex Mould of the NPA. In the first place, it’s not true that that huge amount is used to subsidise fuel. We have gone beyond these falsehoods.”
He challenged government officials making the case for fuel price hikes to “tell us the last time they bought fuel personally without a coupon or claim sheet”.
“The government should take out the many tax components from the prices of the fuel and we will pay the realistic price.....period,” he added.
Mr Cyrus Stan DeGraft-Johnson, for his part, said, “If they remove the subsidies, I will be shocked!”
“Has the ratio of the poor to the rich or private cars to commercial vehicles changed? What's wrong here? I don't want to believe that after electricity and water and almost poor public health care, there is the threat of petrol wahala too,” he lamented.
Mr Mohammed Sani of Sekondi also wrote: “I don’t see the reason our MPs should be given these huge amounts to hire rooms. If they truly care for the masses, that money could be used to subsidise fuel prices in order to help the poor in society.”
Nabi Princess Ama Ardayfio urged the government to use the levies and tolls collected at toll booths and other places to offset any losses incurred in the energy sector.
Published: Feb. 14/2013
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