The Minority in Parliament has urged government to immediately remove the 1 cedi fuel levy, citing the sharp rise in fuel prices triggered by ongoing war in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaking to journalists in Parliament on Wednesday, March 18, Deputy Ranking Member on the Energy Committee, Collins Adomako Mensah, argued that the levy is placing an unbearable strain on Ghanaians already grappling with rising petroleum prices due to the ongoing war.
He insists that government must act swiftly to cushion consumers in the face of external shocks and place before Parliament a bill to repeal the law by a certificate of urgency.
“Keeping it is not policy, it is punishment. We call on Government to immediately amend the Energy Sector Levies Amendment Act 2025 under a certificate of urgency to repeal the GHC1 ‘dumsor’ levy forthwith,” he stated.
The Caucus wants government to undertake a comprehensive review of all taxes and levies embedded in the petroleum price build-up, and suspend those that can be done to cushion consumers from the full weight of the current global price oil shock.
The Minority also called for a reduction in utility tariffs by up to 10 percent, warning that households and businesses are being squeezed from multiple fronts as fuel and energy costs continue to climb.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission last week reduced electricity tariff by 4.81% and water tariff by 3.06%. But the Minority said that is not enough.
“We say plainly that this reduction is insufficient. The Ghanaian consumer deserves far better. We have carefully reviewed PURC’s own quarterly data for 2025. What those figures review is a a consistent and systematic pattern of over projection in both inflation and exchange rate assumptions.
“The warranted tariff reductio for the current period should have been no less than 10%.”
