Charles Danso, Chairman of the Ghana Committed Drivers Association addressing the media
Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), in collaboration with Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) and leaders of a group calling itself Concerned Drivers Union (CDU), on Wednesday staged a protest to call on government to revise the petroleum pricing formula.
They warned that they will picket at the Ministry of Energy if the government does not meet their demand within two weeks.
Ahead of the demonstration, the regulator, National Petroleum Authority (NPA), said the demonstration was not justified.
“We are, however, of the considered view that the reasons for the intended demonstration are anything but noble, having regard to the interventions made time and again by the NPA by way of the Price Stabilization interventions over the past three months,” Corporate Affairs Division said in a release.
The demonstration did not attract the large crowd as promised by the organizers, but the police were there in their numbers to ensure peace and order.
Some demonstrators held placards with inscriptions like “Agyarko Remember your Promises,” “88% Tax is Too Much” “Take off the Nuisance Taxes”, “Kill The Killer Tax.”
They converged on the Obra Spot at Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Accra and marched through Adabraka, TUC before terminating at the Arts Centre Park where they granted interviews to journalists.
In spite of the poor patronage, COPEC Executive Secretary Duncan Amoah, said they were successful in sending their message.
“We wouldn’t mind coming back if the government doesn’t heed our demand and allows fuel prices to go up. Within a matter of two weeks, we’ll be watching the pumps and if fuel prices go up again, we’ll mobilize all and sundry from across the country onto the street.”
“Indeed, this is a curtain raiser like I indicated, it’s the very first one and we are even happy with the numbers we got because it’s a busy working day. The unions that we invited here, none of them was absent and fortunately, some drivers also left their vehicles to follow us all the way from Kwame Nkrumah Circle to this point. And we are enthused knowing that the next time we call them, we’ll not be able to contain them.”
He said that the demonstration is a clarion call to government to remove the 15% special levy imposed on petroleum prices since 2015.
“We know that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) led government under President Akufo-Addo inherited the pricing formula however we are worried it continues to be the determining factor for pricing fuel in our country,” he stated.
According to him, the backlash of the 15% tax which he described as a “Killer Tax” is the current galloping trend in petroleum pricing increases.
William Osei, Chairman of Concerned Drivers Union, said that the persistent increase in the prices of petroleum products is fast killing the industry.
According to him, the union, in collaboration with others, will return to the streets within in 14 days if their plea is not seriously considered.
“We remember what the Energy Minister told our unions during the campaign in 2016 but we are disappointed that one year down the line nothing is being done about this except persistent call for tolerance; for how long can we accept this when our businesses are collapsing,” he remarked.
The Secretary to the True Drivers Association, Yaw Barimah, said numbers do not matter in demonstrations as long as the intended message is sent to the relevant authorities.
By Solomon Ofori