Comment: Re: KWASI PRATT

Comment: Re: KWASI PRATT

Author: Office of Nana Akyea Mensah, The Odik

Date: 2011-01-04 19:30:14

Comment to: KWASI PRATT

OFFICE OF THE ODIKRO.
a companion of the black star,

Hello Mike,

I have been instructed by the Odikro to extend to you the Season's greetings!

I have also been instructed to convey to you that you clearly have no idea what you are talking about! I shall make this very short. Please, below, find a statement issued by Mr. Pratt on the increase in fuel prices on the 8th December 2010.

Thank you very much for your reading the stuff and for informing yourself. And please, do not forget that the human mind is like a parachute, it functions better when it is open.

Take good care of yourself and enjoy your life!

Happy New Year!

I avail myself of this opportunity, to extend to you, on behalf of the Odikro, Nana Akyea Mensah II, the assurances of our highest consideration.

Forward Ever! Backwards Never!!!

Sincerely,

Pur'gu Saarpe!
Secretary to the Odikro, Nana Akyea Mensah II,

Twitter: /twitter.com/TheOdikro,
Blogs: Feature Articles: nanaakyeamensah.blogspot.com,
Comments: theodikro.blogspot.com)

"STOP THIS NOW!

8th December 2010

The Masses Say No To Fuel Price Increases

By Kwesi Pratt Jnr

Technocrats around the Mills administration are doing irreparable damage to the integrity of the Government and firming up the notion that all Governments are the same.

Perhaps it is not their fault. They simply do not understand the passion and commitment which brought the Government to power.

Their approach to resolving problems is just technical and sometimes surprisingly mathematical.

They have no understanding of the social and political impact of policy.

Is it not surprising that even as the formal debate on the 2011 budget has not began, and just a few weeks to Christmas, these technocrats are all over the place urging the government to increase the price of petroleum products?

Even more surprising is the fact that they are using the same arguments which were used by apologists of the Kufuor administration to justify fuel price increases.

Listen to them; they say that the last time they fixed the price of petroleum products, the world market price of crude oil was US$75 per barrel.

According to them the world market price has now risen to US$85 per barrel.

These technocrats have forgotten that in the days of the Kufuor administration we argued very strongly that increases in the world market price of crude oil should not necessarily affect the ex-pump price of petroleum products in Ghana.

All the big wigs in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the cross party group, the Committee for Joint Action said the quantum of taxes and levies on petroleum products could be varied in order to secure some relief for the consumer.

It is important to state that all crude oil do not attract the same price.

The most expensive crude is the one which is described as “sweet and light”. This according to Mr. Ato Ahwoi is the “Mercedez Benz” of crude oil.

There are other qualities of crude oil which may be described variously using the Ato Ahwoi terminology or lexicon as “Opel”, “Mahindra” “Toyota” and so on.

So when the technocrats talk about an increase in the world market price of crude oil what are they talking about? Is it the “Mercedez Benz” of crude oil or the Mahindra type? In any case which of them does Ghana import?

To use a benchmark price to determine the ex-pump price of petroleum products is to deceive the people of Ghana.

The talk about subsidies on fuel products is ridiculous and must be stopped immediately. How can you be making profit on a product and still be subsidizing it?

In fact at some point in the early 2000s levies and taxes on petroleum products accounted for more than 50 per cent of the ex-pump price.

The point must be made that increases in the price of petroleum products have a direct and rippling effect throughout the economy.

They can lead to higher prices for all goods and services, job loses and stunted economic growth.

Are the technocrats who contributed nothing to the victory of Professor Mills and the NDC taking all of these into account?

Do they care whether Professor Mills wins the 2012 elections or not?

It is important for these technocrats to be creative and stop behaving like they have behaved under all previous administrations like “apampam store” operators.

The business of running a government is not like operating a profit and loss account of some table top business. Have they ever heard about cross subsidization in the economy?

Of course it is easier to collect taxes and levies on petroleum products But it does not alleviate mass suffering.

What happened to all the noise about widening the tax net as a means of generating more revenue? What about the abiding need to cut down on Government expenditure and the engagement of the state in direct productive activity?

If President Mills does not put his foot down, these technocrats will mess his administration up.

Somebody must stop these apolitical technocrats before they mess everybody up." Source: //www.insightnewspaper.com/content/stop-now