Editor-in-Chief of the Ghanaian Observer, Mr. Egbert Faibille, has described as shameful the recent hike in fuel prices announced by the ruling National Democratic Congress party led by President John Evans Atta Mills which touts itself as being social democrats.
Expressing his thoughts on the subject, Mr. Faibille said “it is a shame that a government led by President Mills will superintend over this quantum of percentage increase we’ve had in petroleum prices.”
According to him, there is “a certain fundamental inconsistency” at the root of the matter in that the NDC, which claims to be a social democratic government and had pronounced a few months back that “there is no justification for the pricing of petroleum,” have done virtually what they were initially opposed to.
Contributing to a panel discussion on Newsfile on JoyFM, the legal practitioner opined that because the demand for petrol was inelastic “like salt, water, no matter how high you increase it, people will buy it since it is a necessity.” He accused the current government of taking the people of Ghana for granted, per their explanations, adding that because government was towing the line of increasing commodities, it is not reflective of the NDC’s “I Care For You” slogan.
“From 2001, my position has always been that when it comes to petroleum…and for reasons that we have started as a small oil producing nation, we still are not going to get any relief if we know the arrangement under which the Jubilee partners are working,” Mr. Faibille said.
Mr. Faibille advised politicians on both sides of the divide to be realistic and warned that if this is not done the “T.O.R. debt thing would become an annual ritual.”
He expressed worry over decisions which were taken by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and were discarded the government, and further went on to ask why elected representatives would threaten the N.P.A. over a professional job done because of votes during an election.
“We do not need the N.P.A. because the N.P.A. will do the right thing and our politicians will shut the door in their faces,” Mr. Faibille added.
He advised the NDC government to “either go back to G.N.P.C. or set up a petroleum department”, since issues bordering on petroleum have taken on a political dimension in the country, pointing out that failure to do so will result in a “wicked-silly-cycle that will never end.”