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If you are an ardent reader of the ubiquitous DAILY GUIDE, which I�m sure you are, you will notice that the heading for today�s piece was borrowed from Africanus Owusu Ansah�s column, �English For You.� Though our articles differ in content, believe me when I say the inspiration for the piece came from him. It is in order if I thank him for the inspiration, isn�t it? That Kenkey has shrunk in size since Agya Ofuntuo assumed power is not in doubt. Not even minders of the so-called �better Asomdwekrom� agenda can contest that fact. It is no secret that an average sized Kenkey which hitherto sold for 30p now sells at 70p- more than 200% increase in price. I do not blame Madam Ayorkor or any other Kenkey seller for that matter. It is obvious that they are only passing the increase in cost of production on to the final consumer. We know the price of corn is escalating by the day and we do not expect the Kenkey seller to absorb the cost, do we? Same can be said of other goods and services. Be it rice, wheat, flour, beans, sugar, water or electricity, the price changes are astronomical. Yet, when we complain, we are told it is a �better Asomdwekrom.� Like a junkie desperately searching for drugs to cure his cold-turkey, my compatriots and I carry our gas cylinders on our �Mugu Yaro� heads looking for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). Everywhere we go, the story is the same- no gas! The shortage of gas in the system has not only inconvenienced us, but also increased our cost of living drastically. But you know that, don�t you? I needn�t say it because you feel the pinch more than I do. The only persons not feeling the pinch are the greedy bastards who have turned governance into comedy. Rubbing salt into our sores, the greedy bastards are now telling us to be ready to pay more for LPG because cabinet is thinking of scraping subsidies on LPG. That must be another joke to them; but, certainly, not to the hungry on the street. Did you see the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) on television trying to proffer all manner of reasons for the gas shortage? Who could have thought that the lean-looking former Metro TV presenter would have bloated in so short a time? That he has bloated like a castrated billy-goat is ample testimony that he is having a feel of the �better Asomdwekrom� agenda. He might not take my advice, but I will give it anyway. A little exercise would do him a lot of good. In the meanwhile, the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has adjusted utility tariffs upwards. The Commission, however, claims 7% and 6.7% increments on electricity and water respectively were not astronomical. If you are thinking that is one of their jokes, then you are a joker yourself because they are dead serious. They do not care if our spineless salaries cannot afford the utility price hikes; neither do they care if the price hikes will worsen our already bad situation. All they care about is how to milk this country dry and throw dust into our eyes by bribing journalists to embellish stories for them. What first came to mind when I read the phrase �not astronomical� was the President�s �reduce drastically� theory. If �reduce drastically� was synonymous with increase fuel astronomically, then do not be surprised when the PURC�s �not astronomical� turns out to be a drastic increase when you receive your September water and electricity bills. The PURC says it increased the tariffs because it has seen improvement in service delivery by the service providers. Improvement? I don�t think so. How the �dum-so, dum-so� and the erratic water supply could be described as improvement beats my imagination. I�m tempted to think that members of the PURC do not live in this country; because if they do, they will not refer to the inefficiencies of the service providers as improvement. With the prices of goods and services rising by the day, is it not mind-boggling that Dr. Grace Bediako and her charges continue to churn out single-digit inflation figures? Perhaps, they do not go to the market we go to. Of what use is an inflation figure to a man who cannot feed himself and his family? If they think they can deceive me and my compatriots into believing their Kwaku Ananse stories, then they are jokers. But, of course, they are jokers, aren�t they? The propagandists should know that we did not vote them into power to give us excuses. Rather, we gave them power to find solutions to our problems. Seriously, if people were elected into office to give excuses, then my compatriots and I would gleefully vote for my illiterate grandma in Kubease. My compatriots and I are angry; and we are justified because we are hungry. More annoying is the fact that they who have their bellies full are telling us we are better off now than before. They seem to forget Bob Marley�s words which explicitly depict the mood of the downtrodden: �A hungry man is an angry man.� The jokers are treading on a landmine. But does a greedy man care where his greed would lead him; especially if he is a bastard as well?