By Eugene Davis
The Majority in Parliament has dismissed as false and misleading claims that the newly passed fuel tax on June 3, 2025, was approved without consulting the Minority Caucus.
Contrary to these assertions, the Majority stated that Minority members of the Finance Committee, along with all Energy Committee leaders from the Minority side, were present during the committee deliberations on the Energy Sector Levy (Amendment) Bill.
“So, all the press conferences by the Minority is a deliberate attempt to politicise a responsible policy decision aimed at securing the long-term sustainability of our power sector,” it said.
We all went through the bill
Speaking to the press in Parliament today, the Chairman of the Energy Committee, Emmanuel Bedzrah, said “We all went through the Bill, no one walked out, they were all there”
He named the Minority members who attended the committee meeting, including George Kwame Aboagye and Collins Adomako Mensah, as well as all Minority MPs on the Finance Committee—among them Hon. Mohammed Amin Adam, the former Minister for Finance.
“And at the end, a majority decision was taken and so how then can you organise the press to say you were not informed nor consulted?
“This deliberate misinformation from the minority is what is causing some few groups to agitate but I want to assure everyone that Ghanaians will not feel this levy at all,” he said.
Additional revenue
Mr Bedzrah said the primary purpose of the Bill was to raise additional revenue to support the power sector which was under severe financial strain from the mismanagement of the sector by the previous government.
As of December 2024, he said the energy sector debt related to power generation stood at $3.1 billion.
Out of that, he said over $1.7 billion was owed to independent power producers (IPPs) and “we are currently running a monthly deficit of GHC2 billion in the power sector”.
“These figures are not government estimates as they are verifiable and have been validated by independent bodies,” he said.
He explained that Ghana’s power generation mix was dominated by thermal plants which were powered by liquid fuel.
He said every year the government spent over $1.2 billion with cedi equivalent of GHC 12.6 billion on liquid fuels to run thermal plants and to keep the lights on.
“The current electricity tariff does not account for the cost of these fuels.
“According to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), including it in the tariff structure would require increasing electricity bills by over 50 per cent,” he said.
He added: “That is a burden no Ghanaian household should bear, and we refuse to let that happen”.
Fuel still cheaper
The chairman said President Mahama had made it clear that he did not want to increase electricity tariff in order to cushion Ghanaians against hardships.
“The government has therefore proposed a modest GHC1 levy on every litre of refined petroleum product purchased.
“This will give us about GHC5.7 billion annually and since the projected revenue will not be enough to purchase the needed liquid fuels, the government through the Finance Ministry will continue to provide the needed funding to cater for the deficit,” he said.
The Ho West MP said the objective of the new fuel tax was to ensure the continuous provision of reliable power supply for Ghanaians.
He, however, said that would not increase the current fuel prices at the pump.
“Fuel prices have already dropped significantly from over GHC16 per litre in January 2025 to an average of GHC12 per litre due to prudent economic management.
“Even with the GHC1 levy, fuel remains significantly cheaper than it was earlier this year,” he said.
