Energy Ministry exposes NDC's lies over fuel price increment

The Ministry of Energy has launched a blistering attack at the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for lying to Ghanaians about fuel prices increment under President Akufo-Addo administration.

At a press conference held in Accra on Monday, October 18, 2021, the NDC stated that President Akufo-Addo and New Patriotic Party (NPP) lied to Ghanaians about fuel prices’ while in opposition.

The NDC is demanding an immediate reduction of fuel prices in order to relieve Ghanaians from the choking hardships the current administration has imposed on the nation.

The National Communications Officer of the NDC, Mr Sammy Gyamfi, who addressed the press conference stated that “A gallon of petrol and diesel was sold at about GH¢¢16 in December 2016 when the former President John Dramani Mahama administration was leaving office.

The NPP-led by their then-presidential candidate, Nana Akufo-Addo, lambasted President Mahama for poor handling of the situation.

“Nana Akufo-Addo promised to scrap some taxes on petroleum products, particularly the Energy Sector Levies and the Special Petroleum Tax to reduce the prices of fuel significantly,” he said.

Furthermore, the NDC maintains, “that the high increase in the prices of fuel products we have experienced in recent time, is large as a result of the many draconian taxes and tax increases this government has callously introduced on fuel…Instead of scrapping the ESLA as promised, the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-NPP government has collateralized it for a loan which has extended its intended duration from five years to now fifteen years, and increased it by over 20%.”

But in a sharp rebuttal, the Energy Minister warned the NDC to stop its continuous habit of lying to Ghanaians about the current fuel prices in the country.

In a statement signed and issued by the Public Relations Officer (PRO), of the Ministry of Energy Mr Kwasi Obeng- Fosu aka Baba Tauffic and copied to this news outlet on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, the Ministry stressed that the ex-pump prices have not increased by 7% as purported by the NDC. 

"As of today Total Energies is the only OMC that has revised its price upwards from GHS6.52 per litre to GHS6.80 per litre; that is a 4.29% increase. Other OMCs are yet to announce their prices for the new window. We believe competition will even force this increase further down to a level below 3%.
 
"Since the implementation of the price deregulation policy in July 2015, the responsibility of setting ex-pump prices lies with the various Bulk Import, Distribution and Export Companies (BIDECs) and Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). As a result, changes in prices at the pumps almost every two weeks are not dictated by the government but are a direct response to changes in prices of petroleum products on the world market and the strength of the Ghana Cedi (GHS) against the US Dollar (USD), as well as the keen competition amongst the various players competing to sell their products to the motoring public," the statement explained.

According to the statement, areas of the price build-up of petroleum products controlled by the Government is in the form of the taxes and levies imposed on these products. 

The statement noted that the sum of the taxes on petrol in January 2009 was only 28 pesewas per litre and rose to about 146 pesewas per litre by December 2016.

He said that this represents a 426% increase in the taxes and levies, adding that from January 2017 to date the sum of taxes has increased by only 30% from 146 pesewas to 190 pesewas per litre.
 
Prior to the assumption of power by the NPP,  the statement asserted that the Special Petroleum Tax (SPT) was an ad valorem tax of 17.5% on the ex-depot price of petroleum products. 

It added that the rate was reduced by Government to 15% in March 2017 and was further converted to a specific tax of 46 pesewas in February 2018.

At today’s price of GHS6.52 per litre, the SPT would have been about 83 pesewas per litre, if not for the earlier interventions made by the government.
 
It noted that the ex-pump price of petrol saw a cumulative increase of about 357% between January 2009 and December 2016 (from GHS0.82/Lt to GHS3.75/Lt).

However, it noted that the price has increased by only about 60% from January 2017 to date (from GHS4.06/Lt to GHS6.50/Lt).
 
The statement indicated that the prices of petroleum products would have been much much higher today if the NDC was still in power.

 Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu