President Nana Akufo-Addo must use the supernormal profits being made by Ghana from the Russia-Ukraine war, as a result of oil production, to reduce the pump price of fuel to chushion the ordinary Ghanaian, the minority caucus of parliament has said. Yapei-Kusawgu MP John Jinapor told journalists at a press conference on Wednesday, 2 November 2022: “The nation is going through very very trying and difficult times,” adding: “… Today … can best be described as: ‘we are in a gully’.” “Life is getting unbearable. Living conditions getting unbearable. People are going through excruciating poverty. People cannot even make ends meet,” he observed.“One would have thought that following the national address by HE the president, things will begin to cool down,” he said. “It is really sad to note that fuel price today is going through the roof.”“At the beginning of the year, fuel that was selling at GHS6.5 per litre has now increased by 300 per cent. In less than one year, the price of fuel at the pump has increased by more than 300 per cent,” he computed.“Indeed, today (Wednesday, 2 November 2022), fuel is more costly than even the minimum wage. I’ve never witnessed that in my life,” Mr Jinapor indicated.In his view, President Akufo-Addo must immediately use some of Ghana’s oil profits to reduce the fuel price burden on Ghanaians. “I wish to place on record that this government is making so much money from the Ukraine-Russia war,” he asserted.“In the 2022 budget, the government projected that it will receive a total of about GHS6 billion for the whole of 2022” but “today, as we speak, from the PIAC report, in less than three months, and I mean just one quarter, the government has received over GHS8 billion from our petroleum resources, so, in three months, the government has received more than it projected for the whole year.” “So, Ghana is making supernormal profit,” he noted.“From the ministry of finance’s own records, the government has received about GHS800 million.” “We [the minority caucus] hold the view that the government can do something about the fuel price increases.” “The government must sit up, do something and cushion the ordinary Ghanaian. It is, indeed, sad; people are suffering and something must be done. President Akufo-Addo, this is not what you promised the people of Ghana”. In his recent national address on the economic crisis, the president said his government was considering less costly alternative sources of petroleum products. “I know that the increasing cost of living is the number one concern for all of us. It is driven by fast-escalating fuel prices at the pumps, which is caused by high crude oil prices on the world market and our depreciated currency. I know that this is putting intolerable pressure on families and businesses. I know that people are being driven to make choices they should not have to make, and I know that it has led to the devaluation of capital of traders and painfully accumulated savings”, he told Ghanaians in a national address on Sunday night (30 October 2022). As part of the mitigation measures, the president announced that “the government is working to secure reliable and regular sources of affordable petroleum products for the Ghanaian market.” “It is expected that this arrangement, when successful, coupled with a stable currency will halt the escalation of fuel prices and bring relief to us all,” he noted.Read the president’s full speech below: ADDRESS TO THE NATION BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC, NANA ADDO DANKWA AKUFO-ADDO, ON THE ECONOMY, ON SUNDAY, 30TH OCTOBER 2022.Fellow Ghanaians, good evening.Back in 2020, at the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, I started a regular conversation with you that came to be popularly known as Fellow Ghanaians. It was a time of great fear of the unknown, and the entire world felt at risk. I came into your homes regularly to tell you what the experts were discovering about the virus, and what we should do. Now that we have seen the worst of the COVID-19, I can tell you that there were moments during those times when I was distraught, there were moments when I was in despair about the apparent inadequacy of our health facilities, and there were moments when I wondered if the dire predictions made about dead bodies on our streets would truly happen. But I knew that I owed it to all of us that, as your president, I had to hold my nerve, show leadership and take us out of the crisis. With your help and support, and the great mercies of the Almighty, we can say that we emerged from the ravages of the pandemic with one of the lowest mortality rates globally. In fact, Ghana’s handling of the pandemic won universal acclaim. We could all see in real time the devastation that was being wreaked on economies during the pandemic, but I doubt that anyone imagined the extent of the damage. Our economy, here in Ghana, like many, many others around the globe, was thrown into turmoil. When I said, at the height of the COVID pandemic, that we knew what to do to bring the economy back to life, but not how to bring people back to life, it was not said in jest. We had done it before, and we were on course to doing it again. Ghana’s economy grew by a remarkable 5.4% in 2021, signifying a strong recovery from the 0.5% growth recorded the previous year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in the last quarter of 2021, our economy grew at seven percent (7%), only for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the first quarter of this year to aggravate the effects of COVID-19, and plunge the global economy into even greater turmoil from which it has not yet recovered. The whole world has been taken aback by the speed with which inflation has eaten away people’s incomes. Economies, big and small, have experienced, over this year alone, the
