Vice President John Dramani Mahama in a consultative meeting with organized labour, industry and other stakeholders on Wednesday came up with measures that would ameliorate the plight of Ghanaians, following the recent fuel price increases.
Apart from tasking the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to review fuel prices on regular basis to avoid long-term huge increments, he also urged them to regularly engage “The Ghana Road College Association”, which includes transport companies and various transport associations in order to have streamlined transport fares.
Briefing Journalists after a close-door meeting with members of Trades Union Congress, Association of Ghana Industries and Ghana Employers Association, the Vice President explained that the recent increase in fuel prices was necessitated by government’s bid to offset the protracted Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) debts.
He said the meeting had to be convened to mitigate the plight of Ghanaians who were at the receiving end of the price increments and following several reactions that came up after the announcement of petroleum price increases.
Vice President Mahama also directed the TOR and NPA to publish the full and final TOR debts for all Ghanaians to appreciate its magnitude and implications on the economy.
The stakeholders who would be holding another meeting to find lasting solutions to the misunderstandings that followed the fuel price increases, would also hold consultative meetings with the management of the Bank of Ghana to fine-tune an appropriate way to convince the commercial banks to lower their lending rates to the Ghanaian business community.
The recent fuel price increase announced last week received mixed reactions from organized labour, the business community and the transport unions resulting in subsequent increases in transport fares and prices of goods and services.
It was the reactions that moved the Vice President to organize the meeting with the stakeholders to draw a road map that would bring about relief for Ghanaians.