Occupy Ghana demand more than 10 percent fuel price reduction

Ghana’s pressure group, Occupy Ghana, has served notice it will still pursue a court action over the current fuel prices despite the 10 percent reduction in prices by the National Petroleum authority (NPA). The group, which is calling for a 50 percent reduction, described the 10 percent reduction by the NPA as inadequate.

They had threatened to go to court if the NPA failed to reduce the prices of fuel in line with the prevailing price of crude oil on the world market.

However, after the reduction, a member of Occupy Ghana said they would still go to court to seek further clarification in the NPA’s pricing mechanism for petroleum products.

The group’s decision to head to court they said is justified because “government cannot raise the automatic adjustment formula when it pleases and then not reduce it when it pleases. It has to be across the border and it has to be done in a transparent manner,” the groupstated.

“This thing has to be done and done properly and it is important for the purposes of good governance… If we don’t see that happening, then we are heading to court.”

The government had announced a 10 percent reduction in fuel prices after incessant pressure from various political and pressure groups. Government’s statement said the decision to review fuel prices was to “reflect falling prices of petroleum product on the world market.”

But Occupy Ghana says the explanation by the NPA for the reduction is not enough. It has therefore asked the NPA to publish how it arrived at a ten percent reduction on the petroleum products.