Professor of Political Science and Founding Director of the Centre for European Studies at the University of Ghana, Prof Ransford Edward Gyampo has said he supports the proposed Legislative Instrument (L.I) by Government led by Trade and Industry Minister, K.T Hammond in connection to the continuous high increment in cement prices.
To him, the LI when it gets laid and passed by Parliament would bring sanity in the pricing system, and stop unpatriotic citizens who take advantage of the system and economic situation to milk others unnecessarily.
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“We can’t allow unpatriotic people to continue that bogus claim of ‘are you not in Ghana’ to be inflicting hardships on Ghanaians, let us not blame the politicians alone, sometimes we must blame ourselves. People hide under the difficulty of the current situation to unnecessarily look for profit and that should be worrying to Ghanaians, that is unfair and unpatriotic. If the Cedi is depreciating and it must have an impact on the prices so be it, but they should not hide behind the Cedi fall and hike prices” he said on TV3 Saturday morning when contributing to a panel discussion.
He added, “We should have a certain price control mechanism to control unpatriotic people. I admit that some are taking undue advantage of the situation. I favour some price control to ensure unpatriotic Ghanaian’s milk Ghanaians dry using the hardship for the Cedi to arbitrarily increase prices, but it should come about as a result of some dialogue.”
The proposed LI has suffered stiff opposition from Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA), the NDC Minority in Parliament with the CMA accusing the sector minister of no consultation conducted.
Meanwhile K.T. Hammond has said the LI is in the interest of Ghanaians, adding that, government remains resolute in its quest to ensure citizens are not shortchanged in the purchase of cement.
Speaking to journalists, the Minister explained, “I think there’s something fundamentally wrong with the pricing of our cement in the country. It was about the same issue that we tackled when we were at the Ministry of Energy. I believe that there has to be some sanity in the system… And so today, I have received a copy of a petition written by the Association of Chamber of Cement Manufacturers, whatever.
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“When we started all this cement manufacturing, whatever, he was part of it. He has been in consultation with us. He has been on board with respect to all that we have undertaken. Now he arrives in parliament and tells parliament to order me to take back my documents and to consult with him because what I have done is not right or respectful or something because I hadn’t told him. You know, sometimes you have to be careful when some of these things come about.
“But he has a PhD, he’s a doctor, so reading and comprehension shouldn’t be a problem for him. He should go and read the constitution and he will see that by Article 11 thereof, Parliament doesn’t tell me to go and consult with him. I mean, the procedures that he’s talking about, if he understands, I don’t know.”
