{"id":404107,"date":"2018-02-24T15:55:31","date_gmt":"2018-02-24T15:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=404107"},"modified":"2018-02-25T09:07:05","modified_gmt":"2018-02-25T09:07:05","slug":"mahama-slams-govt-over-high-cost-of-fuel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/02\/mahama-slams-govt-over-high-cost-of-fuel\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahama slams gov’t over ‘high cost’ of fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"
Former President John Mahama has criticized the Akufo-Addo government\u00a0for its inability to stabilize the price of petroleum products to the satisfaction of Ghanaian consumers.<\/p>\n
Mr. Mahama also warned that the high price of fuel, particularly Liquefied Petroleum Gas, had long-term degrading effects on the environment because of the cheaper, but more destructive alternative of charcoal.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”Lw42bZ6V4XmqGv71Excq4qdLKlcIBjWD”]Speaking at the latest in the series of National Democratic Congress unity walks in the Eastern Region, he reminded the New Patriotic Party of its promise to relieve Ghanaians of such burdens.<\/p>\n
“We were told that it [petrol] was too expensive and that 50 percent of the petrol was made up of taxes alone and that when they win and come into office, they would remove the taxes so that petrol will [be cheaper]. Today petrol is selling at GHc 22 per gallon.\u201d<\/p>\n
“I am even more concerned about LPG because LPG was about GHc40 before December 7. Today LPG is more than GHc80. What it means is that for those who cannot afford LPG, they will go back to using charcoal and we all know the implications of using charcoal. When you use charcoal, it degrades the environment and so government should do something about the price of LPG particularly,\u201d the former President stated.<\/p>\n
Mr. Mahama further called on the government to do more to relieve consumers of the pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe [the NDC government] managed to stabilize the price of fuel in 2016 before we left. Even though we had deregulated, we found a way of making sure that prices remained stable. Now the extent to which [the price of fuel] keep going up is a worry, and so I think it\u00a0 is something that government should look at.\u201d<\/p>\n