10% Off Fuel Prices: “Gov’t is ripping Ghanaians off” – KT Hammond

General News of Thursday, 8 January 2015

Source: citifmonline.com

KT Hammond MP

The Minority Spokesperson on Energy, KT Hammond has said the Kufuor-led administration governed Ghana successfully for eight years without any oil revenue.

He stated that the oil revenue the nation is enjoying “is actually a bonus given us by the Almighty God,” adding that, “our country’s finances has never come through oil production.”

He stressed that the eight-year administration of former President John Kufuor was without the benefit of oil production, “and in all that, the NPP [New Patriotic Party] administration run this country to the glory of God…”

The former Deputy Energy Minister is convinced the Mahama-led government can run the affairs of the nation without relying heavily on oil revenue if it “get its priorities right.”

“We could still run this country to the glory of God without this benefit from the oil,” he added.

In 2007, through the massive support of the NPP government, Ghana discovered crude oil in commercial quantities, but production of the country’s first commercial oil began in 2010 under the John Mills-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

In an interview on Eyewitness News on Wednesday, KT Hammond was of the opinion that with the benefit of oil revenue and the fall of crude oil prices on the world market, it only makes economic sense for the government to reduce petroleum prices.

He said it is a flimsy excuse for the government to say a further reduction in petroleum prices will affect the projected income of the government.

According to him, Ghana is a net importer “and so by that, we are benefiting from the reduced prices on the international market.”

“How much do we produce anyway and how much do we sell?” he asked.

KT Hammond stressed that government’s refusal to effect a further reduction in the prices of petroleum products “is just ripping the good people of Ghana off. It is not fair.”

He said the NPP had little opportunities as compared to the NDC saying, “we operated within a very short window of opportunity. This government has had too much but the difference is so dramatic.”