Chairman of Ablekuma North Constituency of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) in the Greater Accra region, Mr. John Gomez, has condemned, in no uncertain terms, the recent comments by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA,) Mr. Moses Asaga, in the wake of public outcry over the increases in fuel prices.
Consequently he demanded the dismissal of the NPA boss.
The PPP Ablekuma North constituency chairman described as “disgust and unfortunate” the behaviour and arrogant posture of Mr. Asaga to justify the increases in the fuel prices in the midst of the current precarious and deplorable economic situation in the country.
According to him, it makes no sense to further impoverish Ghanaians with too many taxes.
Mr. Gomez therefore called on President John Dramani Mahama to, as a matter of urgency, remove Mr. Asaga from his position, for showing “gross disrespect and arrogance” in justifying the increases in the prices of petroleum products at the time when Ghanaians are being confronted with untold hardships.
The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), the Progressive People’s Party, New Patriotic Party (NPP), Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (CPC) and many well-meaning Ghanaians lashed out at the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration over the recent increases in the prices of petroleum products in separate press statements released to the media in Accra this week.
But, responding to those press statements, Mr. Asaga stressed that if Ghanaians could afford to buy luxurious vehicles why should it be difficult for them to pay for an additional 28 pesewas on fuel products.
“You buy a $60,000 BMW which is the price in Germany. How did you buy it in Ghana when you say that a German is receiving more salary than you? But you have been able to buy the facility that they are having. Now you buy a 60,000 BMW but you don’t want to pay 6 dollars per litre [fuel] for it,” Mr. Asaga told Accra-based Joy FM.
However, in an interview with Today, Mr. Gomez, who was overly worried about the unguarded statements of Mr. Asaga, noted that “the posture of the CEO of NPA completely smacks of “arrogance and disrespect.”
According to him, Mr. Asaga should be the last government appointee to have made such “irritating remarks,” considering the havoc the long-age-power crisis known in the local parlance as ‘dumsor’ has affected businesses in the country.
Mr. Asaga’s comparison with fuel prices in other countries, the outspoken PPP man said, was on a wrong premise, as the economies of these countries are different from Ghana.
For instance, the NPA boss mentioned countries like “Germany where a gallon of petrol is $6.48; and in UK last night a gallon of petrol was $7.60.”
And based on the above Mr. Gomez asserted that the appointees of President Mahama have lost touch with the reality on the ground.
According to the PPP chair, whilst the CEO of NPA brandishes figures about the cost of a gallon of petrol from two “developed” countries, to lay claim to the fact that the cost of fuel is cheaper in Ghana, Mr. Asaga also failed to tell Ghanaians about the standard of living in those countries he tried to compare Ghana with.
Mr. Gomez pointed out that the daily minimum wage in UK is $78 per day, Germany is $76 per day and Ghana is $1.8 a day.
That, according to the PPP chairman, meant that the average Ghanaian worker would have to work two full days to be able to buy a gallon, adding that the average German worker can buy 11 gallons a day.
While an average British worker can also buy 10 gallons of petrol a day, he added.
He stressed that this is what Mr. Asaga deliberately hid from Ghanaians, describing his assertion as “intellectual dishonesty.”
<<Print>>