Government has been cautioned against washing off its hands completely from the determination of fuel prizes by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to protect the interest of poor citizens.
Member of Parliament for the Mpohor constituency in the Western region, honorable Alex Agyekum who made the call stated that it is important for government to be constantly involved through innovative means such as tax reductions among others to lower the burden off poor people in society.
According to him it would be totally wrong and unfair for Government to leave the pricing of petroleum products in the hands of OMCs under the guise of deregulation and full cost recovery because the poor Ghanaian would be the ultimate victim.
Government`s intervention he noted is even more critical now that Oil Producing and Export Countries (OPEC) are cutting production level s, a situation which he noted is likely to lead to decreasing supply and increase demand for crude across the globe.
This, according to him would subsequently result in the increase of prices of fuel across the world including Ghana.
Mr Agyekum warned that if the nation allows for petroleum price determination to be solely dependent on demand and supply basis, poor Ghanaians and businesses would suffer the consequences hence the need for constant government’s involvement.
The MP charged Government to use certain aspects of the build-up prizes of the imposed 17.5% special levies on petroleum products for social interventions to cushion poor citizens or reduce the tax burden drastically.
The law maker stated emphatically that the Amendment of the Petroleum Authority Bill, 2015 should never lead to the suffering, deprivation or deepen the poverty levels of citizens.
He questioned the usefulness of social intervention initiatives such as Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) if citizens can be assisted with other alternatives to pursue improve standards of living through tax cuts and other interventions.
The passage of the National Petroleum Authority Amendment Bill, 2015 by parliament give full legal backing to Ghana`s deregulation of the petroleum sector for a full prize liberalization regime.
The Amendment Bill, 2015 amended the National Petroleum Authority Act, 2005 (Act 691) to extend its application to cover the implementation of the full price liberalization regime with respect to pricing petroleum products in line with the deregulation policy.
The Government of Ghana adopted full deregulation policy in 2005 to halt the continuous intervention in the pricing of petroleum products.
The policy is aimed at ensuring full cost recovery and uniformity in the pricing of petroleum products by allowing the market to determine prices.
By CHRISTIAN KPESESE
