Akufo-Addo Has Collateralized Ghana’s Oil, Cataclysmic Fuel Scarcity Imminent

According to former President John Dramani Mahama, the Akufo-Addo regime cannot remove taxes on petroleum products because it has sneakily collateralised the country’s petroleum taxes.

This is why Akufo Addo on May Day told Ghanaians that it is not possible to remove taxes on petroleum products because doing so will lead to the government losing Ghc4billion in revenue, ex-President Mahama inferred.

“What he did not tell the workers is that some of those taxes cannot be removed because they have been collateralized, and the money has already been spent. Today, ESLA cannot be removed as part of our petroleum price build-up because this government spent the money upfront and has collateralized it till 2035. This entirely unwholesome practice of concealing debts through the collateralization of statutory funds for the contraction of loans must be curtailed,” he said.

To collateralize a tax is to take a loan by assuring the lender that the loan will be paid back through specific taxes that you have instituted.

In other words, some of the taxes on petroleum products are solely there to collect money to pay loans that have already been taken.

This is similar to what the government plans to do with the controversial e-levy taxes that more than 90% of Ghanaians have rejected but have been illegally passed by the Akufo Addo government with the hope that the compromised judiciary will endorse it.

According to former president Mahama, the sad reality is that those monies borrowed this way have already been squandered.

Mr. Mahama made these known while addressing a program by his party the NDC dubbed: ‘Ghana at a crossroads’ organized by the party’s professionals forum.

Ghanaians are under a siege of taxes after the government borrowed the country into a debt conundrum which resulted after lenders became skeptical about Ghana’s ability to pay back given its huge debt burden, and therefore stopped lending to the country.

The knock-on effect has been inflation and massive depreciation of the cedi because Ghana is mostly an importing country and needs the foreign currency which is now ceased to import.

Meanwhile, Ghana is expected to soon experience serious fuel shortages as a result of the lack of availability of fuel products.

This is according to the National Chairperson of the General Transport Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union, Bernard Owusu.

Mr. Owusu who made this known to Accra-based Joy FM also revealed that in the face of the impending challenge which is mainly due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the country has a buffer that will last for only six weeks.

“As we speak now if we don’t take time, we might be experiencing petroleum shortage in the country because of this war that is coming between Ukraine and Russia. Because most of our products are from these countries, so it’s a very difficult situation for the country and at the same time for Ghanaians as well”, he said.

Mr. Owusu warns government will have to mobilize the necessary resources in preparation for the coming troubles.

Ghana, a country that is both a net exporter of petroleum and importer of petroleum products somehow is vulnerable to world market volatilities because a national refinery that was bequeathed to the Akufo-Addo government is sitting idle in a state of disrepair.

Players in the industry have said, the Tema Oil Refinery’s constant state of disrepair is deliberate – corrupt people who own mega-million businesses in the petroleum products importation trade allegedly constantly pay officials bribe to keep TOR in a constant state of disrepair so that they can continue to import petroleum products and make their millions.

In the wake of the volatilities, however, Mr. Akufo-Addo has been giving the impression that after five years at the helm as President, he has finally woken up to smell the coffee, thanks to the world market volatilities.

While addressing workers on May Day, he said the government is now busily repairing TOR.

“Intense efforts are being made to rehabilitate the Tema Oil Refinery, to enable it to contribute to stabilizing petroleum prices, which should see the light of day very soon,” he said.