President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has been urged to dissolve the Economic Management Team headed by Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia because it has failed to live up to expectations.
The Minority, which made the call demanded the resignation of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia as head of the team and argued the Ghana Cedi is in a state of total collapse and at a ridiculous exchange rate of GH¢8.5 to a dollar as of the morning of Friday, March 18, 2022, and still going up.
According to Caucus, the Cedis is the worst in Africa in terms of performance with other major currencies and yet the Vice President is completely comatose.
Ranking Member of the Mines and Energy Committee, John Jinapor who addressed the media on the mounting economic challenges noted it is unfortunate Ghanaians voted for the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia-led administration because it has demonstrated it has no clue when it comes to the management of the economy and the energy sector in particular.
He pointed out that contrary to government claims that the price of crude oil on the international markets is the sole determinant factor on the pricing of fuel on the Ghanaian market, Ghana also benefits greatly from the international prices because it is a net exporter of crude oil.
He said,” Ghana also benefits because out of the about 700 million barrels of crude that were produced in the year, Ghana gets about 20% of that.”
“And if you take the 71 million barrels that we produce in 2019 Ghana gets about 20% of that so it is not true because when we sell that we make money.”
Ghana, he said, has had so much money from its petroleum exports and disclosed the benchmark value that was put per barrel was US$61 but Ghana is selling crude at a price of over $100.
“So what are we doing with the windfall in terms of the revenue that is accruing,” he quizzed?
Mr. Jinapor, the MP for Yapei Kusawgu, called on the government to use part of that money to cushion the ordinary Ghanaian and also use part of the reserve from the Energy Sector Levy to ease the pressure on Ghanaians.
“We are also calling on the government to desist from profligate and ostentatious expenditure, some of which are needless so that we can make savings to further cushion the ordinary Ghanaian,” he added.
Mr. Jinapor also called on the government to take a critical look at the Tema Oil Refinery because it can refine domestic crude oil.
He said, “We call on BOST that is collecting nine pesewas per litre from each of us when we buy fuel to use that money to buy some strategic stock so we can release those in times of difficulties like this.”
The Minority, he said, stands ready to commiserate with the Ghanaian people because it is indeed a very difficult, unprecedented and volatile time.
Source: Mypublisher24.com
