The leadership of the pressure group Arise Ghana on Wednesday presented a petition to the Finance Ministry and Parliament demanding action to address the high cost of living and what they termed “unpopular government policies”.
The protesters in the petition called for the electronic transfer levy to be scrapped, for interventions on petroleum price hikes, and action on growing unemployment, among others.
Presenting the petition, one of the leaders of the group, Bernard Mornah said: “We are here this afternoon, on a simple mission that ‘krom nu ay3 shi’ (prices are soaring) and that the economic hardship that the people of Ghana are going through as a result of the bad policies that are formulated by the Ministry of Finance.”
“And we are coming here [for you] to take pragmatic steps to alleviate the suffering of the people of Ghana.”
Content of the petition
“One, we call on the Ministry of Finance to take steps to scrap the obnoxious Electronic Transfer Levy, that is imposing more hardship on the people of Ghana, siphoning their capital and above all confiscating our savings.”
“Two, the Ministry should take urgent steps to ensure that inflation is brought down to the barest minimum, so as to allow the poor with little income to be able to afford basic commodities.
“Three, that you should do everything possible to arrest the deteriorating currency, which is now among the worst in the world.”
“Four, that what you have written Agyapa di3, which you intend to reintroduce to parliament, we describe it as ‘Agya bone’ that it should not be introduced to Parliament.
“Five, that you should take steps to ensure that the increase in rate of unemployment that engulfs our young people is reduced.”
Receiving petition
Receiving the petition at the Finance Ministry, the deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei-Asare, gave assurance to the public that the government was working to address their concerns.
“Myself, Abena Osei-Asare and my colleague John Kumah will like to receive this petition on behalf of the ministry. We thank God today’s demonstration was peaceful. I want to use this opportunity to thank our security agencies especially the police, for the hard work they have put into this. Both yesterday and today.”
She said the government will continue to support the police to make sure that consistently we live in peace and we guard jealously the peace that we have
She added: “We will also like to thank you for giving us a copy of the petition that is supposed to go to the speaker of parliament. I am happy to announce to you that government has already started meeting relevant stakeholders to see how best we can address this economic situation that has arisen as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war.”
“On Monday, government with relevant ministers met some important stakeholders on the rising food prices. Government will continue to meet all the relevant stakeholders and make sure that together we come out with policies and programs that will address the issues you have raised here today.”
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