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A member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ernest Owusu Bempah,
has disclosed that the government cannot be blamed for the current economic hardships.
He said the situation is completely out of the hands of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his government. Owusu Bempah, who is also a convener of ‘Fixing the Country’ said the increased prices of food is due to the current war between Russia and Ukraine.
According to him, the war has led to a shortage in the supply of fertilizer for the planting of maize in Ghana causing a rise in the cost of maize. This, he argued, has consequently affected the price of kenkey.
“You are a journalist and so if you ask those questions, you have to ask the circumstances within which the world is situated… We need fertilizer to grow corn and we don’t manufacture the fertilizer in Ghana, we import it. So if you wake up one day and everything has come to a halt with borders closed, the first cardinal principle to know is that global circumstances have changed.”
“Majority of our economy relies on the importation of goods and services, right or wrong? Therefore, you have to know that things will change. Secondly, we know that globally crude oil which we import is from Russia and Ukraine. Because of the war going on in Ukraine, if anyone says we can’t argue that the break-in supply and the resulting increase in oil prices has no effect, I don’t agree,” he argued.
“We import about 60% of our crude oil from Ukraine and Russia so if the prices have increased, obviously, that should tell you something. How much oil do we produce in Ghana? We have to import, and when we do that, there are heavy taxes imposed on it which will go on to affect everything. So if kenkey used to be GHC1 and it is now GHC5, why should you be worried?” he questioned.
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