ICU Calls For Reduction On Fuel Products


From William Ofori, Kumasi

The Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) in the Ashanti region ,has made an appeal to the government to take an urgent step to intervene on their behalf to salvage the local industries in the current load shedding.

The ICU, a member of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), is asking government to as a matter of urgency reduce fuel prices, since it is an alternative source of power for them.

According to them, the constant power cuts in the country and especially in the Ashanti region, is putting undue pressure on businesses and organizations.

Speaking to the press during their general meeting held at the conference hall of the Saint Luis Training Collage in Kumasi during the week, the regional ICU officer, Mr. Baaba Allotey, said reducing fuel prices would save local businesses from collapsing.

Most businesses and organizations, are now using generators to power their factories and equipment due to the current load-shedding exercise.

He said, “Now that we are having the energy crisis, we were thinking that we were lucky when the crude prices in the world market has reduced drastically from over $100 to $48 per barrel….Prior to that it was $113 to the barrel and if it has reduced, we think that the price of fuel should have been brought down as well”
The regional secretary of the Rural Banks, Mr. Foster Amankwaah, however, urged government to apply the automatic adjustment formula for determining fuel prices, because most of the rural banks spent over one hundred thousand Ghana Cedis on fuel to power their generators monthly, since the inception of Dumsor, he stressed.

In another development, the Ashanti regional chairman of the ICU,Mr. Kojo Ntsiful, called on president Mahama to live up to his promise of saving the country’s industries by fixing the energy crises the nation is going through once and for all.

He said, we are adding our voices today to the numerous voices already in the air on the same matter to protect our industries from collapsing.

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