The Minority in Parliament has descended heavily on government over the recent hikes in utility tariffs.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) on Tuesday, December 2 announced a 9.86 percent hike in electricity tariffs and a 15.92 percent hike in water tariffs.
This, the PURC clarified, is a multi-year tariff receive order for the period 2026 to 2030.
Addressing journalists in Accra on Monday, December 8, the Minority insists the decision will further impoverish Ghanaians who are already suffering under the current government.
Ranking Member on the Energy Committee George Kwame Aboagye, who doubles as the Member of Parliament for Asene/Manso/Akroso Constituency, described government’s decision as a “lazy path” to solving the current crisis in the energy sector.
“Instead of fixing the system, the government has chosen the lazy path of shifting its failures onto already suffering consumers.”
Already, the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has described the price adjustments as insensitive to the plight of Ghanaian workers especially coming in the wake of a 9 percent wage increase for 2026.
The Minority spokesperson insists: “This will completely wipe out the meagre 9 percent wage adjustment for 2026.”
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) legislators, therefore, demanded that government withdraws the decision immediately.
They listed tariff poverty, collapse of small- and medium-scale enterprises, job losses and reduced productivity and competitiveness as some of the effects of the decision by government.
“These tariff hikes are not reforms, they are punishment. They are not solutions, they are symptoms of failed leadership and poor policy choices.”