“We will officially request to meet the ministry, request to meet government, request to meet the energy ministry and attempt some dialogue. If, however, all these fail then clearly, we will have to resort to what we have done all over the period; a protest. A legitimate protest.”
The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah has said in full preparedness to argue for the scrapping of the increase in the Energy Sector Levies (ESLA).
The Chamber earlier announced that its members will protest at the Finance Ministry to ensure the new levy is scrapped if dialogue fails.
The government announced the introduction of the levy in the 2019 mid-year budget review to enable it raise more revenue to defray the energy sector legacy debt.
But Duncan Amoah again says his outfit will do everything possible to get the decision reversed.
The mid-year budget review and subsequent Parliamentary approval saw an upward adjustment in the Road Fund Levy (RFL), the Energy Debt Recovery Levy (EDRL) and the Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy (PSRL).
As a result, drivers and transport union members have been agitating for an increment in transport fares because of the expected fuel price increase.
The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has, however, urged its members to remain calm as it works with the Ministry of Transport and other stakeholders to reach an agreement on a possible increment in transport fares.
Transport fares were last increased by the GPRTU in April 2017 by 15 percent.
—citinewsroom
