July 29, 2010
Thousands Demonstrate Over High Utility Tariffs

Thousands of Ghanaian workers Thursday joined in a mass protest against high utility tariffs.

Organized under the aegis of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), the demonstration, replicated in the Ashanti Regional capital of Kumasi, was to impress upon the government to ask the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission to cause the immediate suspension of the implementation of the hiked tariffs.

The demonstrators in Accra paraded placards bearing messages bemoaning the fate of industry and labour as they marched from the Trades Union Congress head offices through the Old Parliament House, the Cocoa Affairs Courts, and the Ministries area before massing up at the Castle junction, Osu.

Here, a detachment of police men, later reinforced with riot control units backed by two water cannons and police horse riders prevented the demonstrators some of who threatened to march en masse to the Castle along with their leaders to present a petition to the government demanding a return to previous tariffs.

When sanity prevailed, only the leadership of the demonstrators was whisked away in a police Ford pick-up to present the petition.


Some of the placards read “The new electricity, water rates will kill us oo”, “Reduce the hefty tariffs now!”, “Agya Atta do something before we die oo!!”, “Mr. President this is job reduction and not job creation”, “New utility rates will collapse factories”, “How sensitive are the government and PURC when people can’t pay utility bills”, “Mr. President, the better Ghana agenda is a failure with the unrealistic increase in tariffs” and “Remember your promise to the nation”.






"Mediation"

http://news.myjoyonline.com/images/spacer.gif




Vice President John Dramani Mahama was scheduled to meet leadership of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Thursday over concerns raised by members of the two groups over the utility tariffs increases.

The meeting to discuss options at addressing the concerns of consumers was also to afford the Vice President the opportunity to present to Ghanaians the government’s position on the concerns.

The PURC late May announced upward adjustments of 89 per cent for electricity tariffs and 36 per cent for water, an action that met the immediate condemnation of labour, industry and the Convention People’s Party.

Source: Daily Graphic