CJA challenges government on economy

Accra, May 29, GNA - Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr, a leading member of the Committee for Joint Action, on Thursday asked Ghanaians to challenge the government to tell them the truth about the economy. "Given the enormous resources that have come the way of this government, this country should be doing much better, even in the face of the global oil and food crisis," he said.

Mr. Pratt, who was speaking at a press conference organized by the CJA to comment on measures announced by government to mitigate the effects of global commodity and crude oil price hikes, said the neo-liberal economic agenda which had been implemented by the government had finally collapsed with dire consequences for the masses.

He said the simple truth about "the so-called resilient economy" is that both the cedi and the dollar are in a free fall against the pound sterling and the euro with the dollar operating at half strength and the cedi, which is pegged to it, also operating at half strength.

Mr. Pratt said it was strange that at this late hour, when farmers had already finished clearing, ploughing and had even planted crops for the season, that government had thought of irrigation and tractors. "It is even more strange that when Ghanaians were expecting effective solutions to the problems of food unavailability and high prices, the NPP government is telling our farmers to wait until next year for tractors and fertilizers to arrive from overseas before they prepare their land for planting."

Mr. Pratt said, had the government not turned the Aveyime Rice project into a platform for their "political chicanery", the country would have gone far in achieving self-sufficiency in rice production and asked how local rice production could survive in the new dispensation where rice imports did not attract duty.

He said the government had no serious agricultural policy, adding that, much of what it did in the sector was "what is called in Ghanaian parlance as 'touch-and-go', meaning it lacks consistency and direction".

According to Mr Pratt, the government had proved unreliable, cannot be trusted while its reliance on spin, public relations gimmicks and a large army of praise singers had affected its ability to deal with the substance of issues, let alone consider other viewpoints.

He said the taxes on petrol had not been reviewed, while the revision on diesel kerosene had resulted in only about five pesewas per litre. "The effect of this is that transport fares may not change unless it is decreed that vehicles which operate on diesel should charge different fares from vehicles which use petrol."

President John Agyekum Kufuor last week announced the Government's decision to reduce excise duty and recovery levy on gas oil, kerosene and marine gas oil as part of a package deal to bring relief to Ghanaians in the midst of the global challenges, resulting from crude oil and food price hikes.

Additionally, debt recovery levy and excise duty on premix fuel as well as import duties on staples including rice, wheat, yellow corn and vegetable oil were removed.

President Kufuor also said the Government would also increase its support for the production cost of electricity, subsidize the cost of fertilizer and ensure effective distribution to farmers. President Kufuor warned that it would be criminal for anyone to attempt to re-export items declared tax-exempt purposely for the benefit of the local market.