The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Bernard Antwi Boasiako, aka Wontumi, has threatened to lead two million angry people to demonstrate against the President Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration soon.
He described as “wickedness” and unacceptable, the government’s decision not to reduce fuel prices to reflect the present international price of the commodity, saying that it was the reason he had decided to lead the mammoth demonstration across the ten regional capitals of the country.
Speaking exclusively to DAILY GUIDE in Kumasi on Tuesday, the NPP chief said the citizenry were suffering due to the high cost of petroleum products, but the government appears not to care about the plight of the people.
According to him, western countries including the United Kingdom (UK) recently reduced the price of petrol sharply as a result of the massive reduction of petrol prices on the international market, adding, “and I wonder why the NDC government is not following suit.”
Crude oil currently sells at around $45 per barrel from $110 in August 2014.
Ghanaians, Wontumi said, have piled incessant pressure on the government to reduce petrol prices to reflect the price of the commodity on the international market but strangely the Mahama-led administration only reduced the price by a meagre 10 percent.
The NPP chairman noted that Ghanaians bought petrol at a higher price when the commodity was being sold at a higher price on the international market, stressing that the citizenry therefore deserve to buy petrol at a reduced price now that its price has been reduced on the international market.
Wontumi expressed doubt that the Mahama-led government would willingly reduce petrol prices, saying that “the NDC government is stubborn; the best language that they understand is for the people to hit the streets in colossal numbers in demonstration.”
According to him, so far all appeals to the NDC government to reduce petrol prices have failed to produce the required results, noting that “this is because the government doesn’t understand dialogue.
They only understand demonstration, and I will give it to them.”
The NPP chairman recounted how the NDC, whilst in opposition, assured Ghanaians that it would reduce petrol prices drastically when voted in power, noting that the government’s actions now give the indication that they only wanted to take Ghanaians for a ride.
Never again, Wontumi stated, would Ghanaians sit aloof and watch as politicians make empty promises which they cannot fulfil, stressing that he would sustain the heat on the NDC administration till it fulfilled its campaign promise of reducing the price of petrol drastically.
