New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Dormaa East Constituency Paul Apreku Twum-Barimah says his party will retain power – import of
New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Dormaa East Constituency Paul Apreku Twum-Barimah says his party will retain power – import of ‘break the 8’ – just as fuel prices have gone beyond GH¢8 per litre at the pumps.
Despite admitting hardship not peculiar to Ghanaians but the world as a whole, the lawmaker maintained that per the measures put in place by the Akufo-Addo-led government, Ghanaians should expect a stabilisation of the economy.
“Clearly, we all know where it is coming from,” he conceded in an interview with Media General‘s Komla Klutse on Wednesday, March 2.
“The international market prices have changed with this Russia-Ukrainian issues, so it is not that the government has something to do with it. It is a global thing so you cannot hold Ghana as a cause of it. It is a global phenomenon.”
He called for a stakeholder meeting of all players in the sector to arrest the situation.
“This cannot be put at the doorstep of government. It is a global issue and we are hoping that we all could come to a compromise and see.”
He added: “I am sure government has put in place a lot of measures to be able to contain the situation and I am confident that by the time government goes through the full processes, Ghanaians will be happy.”
But Deputy Minority Leader James Klutse Avedzi says he now understands the ‘break the 8’ mantra of the NPP.
“The whole of last year, the NPP keep saying that ‘We want to break the 8’. It is now that some of us have understood what they meant by breaking the 8. Which ‘8’ are they going to break?
“They want the pump price of a litre of petrol and diesel to be more than GH¢8.”
On a more serious note, the Ketu North MP dismissed suggestions that the crisis between Russia and Ukraine is to blame, stressing: “The prices of fuel started increasing not today.
“In fact, this year alone prices have increased more than three or four times. The Russia-Ukraine crisis started barely a week ago, so you cannot within one week attribute everything to that crisis.”
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