Cutting tariffs: Nana has shown the way – Agyarko

Opposition leader, Nana Akufo-Addo’s policy advisor, Boakye Agyarko, has responded to a challenge by Deputy Power Minister John Jinapor to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) flagbearer to tell Ghanaians the exact percentage he intends reducing electricity tariffs by, should he become president.

Mr Jinapor, speaking on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Wednesday, June 8, dared Mr Akufo-Addo to back his promise to the electorate to reduce electricity tariffs (which saw a 59.2 percent hike in January 2016 and a further 10 percent service charge imposition) with figures.

“Nana should tell us…that he would reduce it by say 30 or 50 percent, so that the voter will be certain that if he pays 100 cedis for example, with Nana’s ascension to office, he will pay 50 cedis, so we all mark that down. But if you tell us you will reduce it if you win the elections, exactly how much will you reduce it by? He can decide to increase one day and increase it the following week and claim that he reduced it only for the price to shoot up,” he told Chief Jerry Forson on the show, adding that he found the politician’s promise surprising given that an earlier NPP government under President Kufuor increased fuel prices by as much as 300 percent.

Reacting to Mr Jinapor’s comments on Accra News on Wednesday, June 8; however, Mr Agyarko said his political opponent’s views were “funny” as the three-time presidential aspirant had demonstrated how he would achieve that.

“In Nana Addo’s first statement [on the matter] he showed John Mahama ways he could reduce the cost of electricity. In his second statement, he pointed out that taxes on electricity should be removed,” Mr Agyarko told Nana Ama Osei Tutu.

He said he would be surprised if Mr Jinapor, as Energy Minister, had no idea of the number of taxes on electricity.

“So, if Nana Addo has said he will remove taxes on electricity, it means he has demonstrated the proportion by which he would reduce it. If the tax is 10 per cent or 17.5 per cent, he has indicated by which percentage he will reduce it. So, John Jinapor knows what Nana Addo is saying, so he will scrap them to ease the burden on Ghanaians,” he added.

“Secondly, he has indicated his desire to bring improvements and efficiencies in power generation, which will bring further reduction. So, it’s not a one-off reduction Nana Addo is talking about, it will be progressive, it will involve gradual steps to ease the strain on Ghanaians.”

He wondered why Mr Jinapor did not see it necessary to question the late Prof John Atta Mills of his campaign promise in 2008 to “drastically” reduce fuel costs, by which margin he would do so. He said the relevant issue was about offering solutions to address the cries of Ghanaians about the “killer” utility tariffs and not mere percentages.

Further, Mr Agyarko pointed to “bad governance” as the cause of the increases in electricity, querying why the world price of crude kept tumbling but prices of fuel for generation of power were rising in Ghana.

He said the mismanagement of the economy, a result of which the cedi has depreciated, in addition to “stealing” in the energy sector, which the government “has turned a deaf ear to”, were also to blame.