The main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has written to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, demanding for an immediate drastic reduction of fuel prices on the Ghanaian market considering current trends on the global market.
A statement signed by the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Sammy Gyamfi, and released in Accra, Monday, is urging the President to reduce pump prices of fuel by a minimum of 20%.
“This, we believe, will reduce the extreme economic hardship in the country and ameliorate the plight of suffering Ghanaians”, the statement in part read, stressing that anything short of their request “should be fiercely rejected by the Ghanaian people”.
According to the group, they’ve taken notice of the continuous reduction of the price of Brent crude on the international market in the last two months and noted that it has declined by over 45%, from an average price of $63.60 per barrel in January 2020 to $36 per barrel currently.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that, the declining prices of crude oil on the international market coupled with the artificial stability the Ghana Cedi appears to be chalking, which is largely due to the Coronavirus outbreak and the injection of the recent $3billion Eurobond into the economy, should have led to a significant drop in the pump prices of fuel by now”, they noted.
They added “unfortunately, but predictably, the Akufo-Addo government has deliberately refused to pass on the significant reduction in the prices of crude oil on the global market to petroleum consumers in Ghana. Within the period that crude oil prices have experienced a significant decline on the international market, consumers have only been given an insignificant and paltry reduction of 28 pesewas at the pump, from GH₵5.62 in January to the current average price of GH₵5.38”.
The center-left political party considers the action of the Akufo-Addo-led government not to have reduced fuel prices to reflect the current global market prices as callous and insulting to the sensibilities of Ghanaians who are going through excruciating hardships as a result of persistent increases in the pump prices of fuel, cumulatively by over 50% in three years, especially, given the fact that the President whilst in opposition criticized the erstwhile Mahama regime for exorbitant fuel prices and promised to reduce same if elected.
The NDC, they noted, is appalled by the display of gross insensitivity by President Akufo-Addo who has consistently flattered to “deceive on his promise to reduce fuel prices and all his flagship campaign promises”.
