KT Hammond fights at a fuel station over price increment

The economic hardship facing Ghanaians has worsened, especially with the recent increase in fuel prices.

Currently, at the fuel pumps, diesel is being sold for more than GH¢23 whilst the price of petrol is hovering around GH¢18.

The recent hikes have not affected only ordinary Ghanaians but also some Members of Parliament, MPs. This is despite the widely held notion that the state fuels their vehicles.

Kobina Tahir [K.T.] Hammond, the Adansi Asokwa NPP MP has been detailing how he nearly fought with a fuel attendant after he was told about recent hikes at the pump.

In a Joy News interview on Thursday, November 3, which was monitored by GhanaWeb, the MP lamented about the current hardship, especially the fuel price increment, and its effect on Ghanaians.

K.T. Hammond said, “a few days ago, I went to the garage, they pumped the fuel into the car and they came to give me the bill, it almost turned into a Third World War at the station. I asked why is he giving me this, and he said just yesterday price of super moved to what the price of diesel used to be.

“It is a particularly difficult situation and I do not envy the lot. Those who are really having to juggle.”

He added, “it is not a situation peculiar to only Ghana. We have heard about the situation in Sri Lanka. It is a redeeming situation for those of us in Ghana. At least, we are not in long queues. Oil-producing countries like Nigeria and others are all in queues, we are not.”

The MP, who is also a member of the Mines and Energy Committee in Parliament is of the view that the current price hikes is largely blamable on Oil Marketing Companies and Bulk Distribution Companies trying to make astronomical profits but he did not rule out the poor performance of the cedi as a factor.

He stressed that he is completely against removing taxes and other margins on the fuel price build-up because there are serious governmental efforts underway to ease the pressure in the system.

“It’s the OMC, the big ones and the BDCs. I have a problem and they better sort it out well. They got the dollar at whatever rate so somebody should pay for it…I am concerned that some OMCs are making unnecessary profits and I think we should be careful how they are also playing the market, we are in this together.

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“President has travelled out of the country many times and sent out a delegation to make sure that in a very short time we would be able to flood the market with some petroleum products. I am not happy with the way the BDCs are going about this situation,” K.T. Hammond observed.