Council of State concerned about price hikes

Accra, July 28, GNA - The Council of State on Friday expressed concern about the increases in the prices of petroleum products noting that if the trend continued as some forecasts predicted, there would be a limit beyond which the financial burden would be difficult to bear. Professor Daniel Adzei Bekoe, Chairman of the Council, in opening remarks before the Council went into a closed-door meeting with President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, said they were aware of the threat of dislocation to the economy and at the same time the complex financial burden that increased fuel costs imposed on the people of Ghana.

"We are, therefore, most relieved to note that Government has set up a committee to examine all possible ways of bringing relief, especially to the poor, without dislocating the economy."

Professor Bekoe said there was no doubt that the country's present macro-economic stability was part of the basis of the favourable and impressive economic gains, such as the debt cancellation, increased support from development partners and goodwill from many directions.

Another source of worry to the Council, he said, was the poor sanitation in the cities and towns, especially the need for the city authorities to organise themselves to raise funds to vigorously and continuously face up to the challenges without appealing to the Central Government for injection of funds for occasional clean-up exercises. "We have raised this particular issue of revenue collection with some of the relevant city authorities over the past four to five years. =93Unfortunately, we have not observed any significant attempts to move in this direction."

Prof. Bekoe also touched on traffic congestion and suggested that Ghana should try to apply some of the measures that were practised in other countries like the staggering of working hours, encouragement of car pools and the rehabilitation of the railway lines in parts of Accra and Kumasi.

On preparations towards the country's Golden Jubilee celebration, he said it was important to give the public as early as possible, an outline of the programme for the celebrations, the challenges involved and how those challenges would be met.

The Council commended the Government for the series of successes and significant achievements. He mentioned the start of operations of VALCO under the new partnership of the Government of Ghana and the American Company ALCOA and progress in planning and moving forward with the Integrated Aluminium Industry.

He also mentioned the West African Gas Pipeline Project, Capitation Grant, Millennium Challenge Account, African Peer Review Mechanism and the support for the national football team, the Black Stars. Professor Bekoe, however, noted that the Government's success story had not been told and asked that it should ensure that its public relations mechanisms were stimulated and galvanized to deal promptly with any uninformed criticism.

President Kufuor praised the Members of the Council for working practically on daily basis to help to move the country forward. He said it should be reassuring to Ghanaians that their relations were functional. 28 July 06