Member of parliament for Anyaa Sowutuom, Dr Dickson Adomako Kissi, has expressed the need for government to invest in local refineries in the country.
He revealed that the move will help augment the fuel supply in the country and subsequently beat down prices of goods affected by the surge in fuel costs.
Dr Kissi emphasized that fuel is a huge deal as it affects all facets of lives in the country and in many ways, many prices of products in the market are affected by it. He explained that the prices are impacted largely due to fuel prices, as goods are carted from hinterlands to the capital.
Owing to this, he expressed the need for Ghanaians to change their lifestyle, a move he intimated he is a huge promoter of. He indicated that there are certain things Ghanaians can do something about and “more so than OPEC”.
“These are very important things we all have to note but the key thing is that Ghana has to work heavily on refineries. The volumes we refine in the country, we need to improve and the way the world is going, self-reliance is very important…”
Dr Dickson Adomako Kissi
The Anyaa Sowutuom legislator stated that oil prices, especially on the international market cannot be controlled especially regarding its influences in the country and it is something Ghanaians have to come to terms with. He asserted that in as much as people have belabored government to reduce taxes and fees on fuel, government has so much it can do.
“… We are also tied by the fact that government cannot also as it is, provide subsidies; because government was doing a little bit of that and has been warned…”
Dr Dickson Adomako Kissi
Impact of reduction in fuel prices
Commenting on the recent reduction in fuel prices, Dr Kissi stated that although this relief might appear to be small, it also brings down the tension as people are a bit happier at the pump. He highlighted that over the past three weeks, things have been much stable than before as hitherto, the surge in fuel prices was rampant.
“I’m actually just happy that we’ve had a dip of some sort over this period and I’m hoping it will show in the pricing of goods and services and bring relief to all of us.”
Murtala Mohammed
On his part, Member of parliament of Tamale Central, Murtala Mohammed, underscored the need for the stability in the country’s energy supply to be attributed to former President Mahama.
According to him, the investment made by H. E John Mahama is the reason the country is enjoying some respite from the scourge of fuel prices. He recounted that beyond the fourth republic, Ghana experienced ‘dumsor’ every seven to ten years and former President Mahama decided at the “peril of his government or his party winning elections” to invest heavily in providing energy.
“All the challenges we had was the capacity and I remember the NPP [who were] in opposition, they said a whole lot of things.”
Murtala Mohammed
Mr Murtala revealed that he once filed a question on the floor of parliament requesting the minister for finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to furnish the House with information on how much the country has generated so far from the sales of energy to its neighbors since 2017. He noted that the finance minister’s official response was that government made about $140 million annually from the sales of energy to its neighbors.
“So, if you multiply $140 million from 2017 to 2022, that’s about $840 million we’ve generated so far. That $840 million, perhaps, if it wasn’t in this economy, perhaps we would have all been [on] our way to Togo or Niger….”
Murtala Mohammed
Expressing his view on the fuel reduction, he stated that it is a sad phenomenon as the country shouldn’t experience increases in fuel prices in the first place, considering it is now a net producer of crude.
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