A former Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), John Attafuah has argued that the deregulation of pricing of petroleum products announced by government has technically not started yet.<\/p>\n
Government earlier this month announced that the\u00a0Bulk Oil Distribution Companies (BDCs), will from June 16 be allowed to regulate prices of fuel\u00a0products to reflect the prices on the world market.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”ksFbvmQgu7WvKAnkFtkVagItBHtIsuny”]The NPA on Tuesday announced a\u00a014 pesewes increase on petroleum products<\/a><\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n According to Mr\u00a0Attafuah, since the increment still came from the regulator NPA, it comfirms that the deregulation policy has not been adhered to yet.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat has happened today is that prices have changed and I think that is all. Prices went up by a certain percentage and it was announced by the NPA. So, nothing has changed. I won\u2019t call that deregulation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He explaine\u00a0that\u00a0\u201cit\u2019s just a new price that has been introduced onto the market and different oil companies have decided that instead of applying the full price, they will absorb part of the cost to help the consumer.”<\/p>\n The\u00a0former CEO of the\u00a0NPA\u00a0had warned that there is a high tendency that the new system if fully implemented, will\u00a0create cartels<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0and \u201cwe don\u2019t have to take any chances with that.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Minority in Parliament is threatening to drag the NPA to court<\/strong><\/a><\/span> for reliquishing its petroleum pricing role without Parliamentary approval.<\/p>\n The Minority spokesperson on Energy, K.T Hammond on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong>\u00a0on Tuesday said\u00a0\u201cfor now, we are worried about the constitutionality of it. It is for NPA to set the prices, it is not GOIL or the OMCs\u2026We would have to go to court to stop this government from proceeding with this illegality. It is wrong and we will not allow it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
\n