DON'T USE FUEL PRICING FOR POLITICS — KWESI BINEY (PAGE 16)

THE former District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ahanta West in the Western Region, Mr Kwesi Biney, has called on politicians not to use fuel pricing for politics since that has the potential of destroying the economy.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Takoradi yesterday, Mr Biney said “the recent increases in petroleum prices by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) were the right thing to do if we should maintain a healthy economy”.
He said the NDC government was panicking over the increase in petroleum prices because it criticised the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration when it was in opposition.
“If the Ghanaian economy should remain resilient and stable, then politicians of all the political divides should not play politics with petroleum pricing,” Mr Biney emphasised.
“As harsh as it may be, it is the real fact and it is about time we learnt to pay the real prices to ensure that we do not derail the progress of the country,” he said.
According to him, if the real fuel prices were paid, it would stop the government from unnecessary borrowing.
Mr Biney said the public outcry over the petroleum price increases was due to politicisation by the ruling and the opposition parties.
“If we have to continue to heavily subsidise petroleum products, inflation will continue to be high and that would seriously affect the development of the nation,” he said.
He expressed concern that for the many years that the country had subsidised fuel prices, some unpatriotic citizens had taken undue advantage of the situation to smuggle the product to neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Burkina-Faso.
“I must state that no political party should capitalise on the current fuel price increases to make political capital out of it, but the real issues should be explained to the people to understand the dynamics of the situation in which we have found ourselves,” he said.
He said one of the biggest and courageous steps former President John Agyekum Kufuor took was to finish the process of deregulating the petroleum sector.
“If we Ghanaians force the government to resort to borrowing to support only one sector—petroleum — then what will happen to the other sectors of the economy that are equally important to the citizenry?” he asked.
Mr Biney, who is also a senior journalist, said what the major political parties such as the NDC, the NPP, the Convention People’s Party (CPP), as well as various pressure groups, could do for the country was to educate Ghanaians on the real facts concerning fuel pricing.