Mixed Reactions Greet New Utility Tariffs | General News

From Kumasi, Kwadwo Baffoe Donkor reports that the residents believed that the timing was not right, especially at a time when the whole country was going through economic challenges and believed that at least the government could do was not to exacerbate the plight of the people.

Richard Dwomoh, a civil servant, said: “The system is hot and increasing tariffs will exacerbate the conditions badly for the citizenry.

“We are suffering and many of us were not expecting an upward adjustment of tariffs; almost 30 percent of electricity. This will obviously increase illegal connections,” he lamented.

Serwaah Ama Opoku, a media practitioner, also shared similar views and said it was becoming more expensive living in Ghana especially in the city.

She said the constant increase in utility tariffs was rather increasing the gap between the rich and the poor when “we should rather be bridging that gap at this point of our development.”

She described the new tariff as giving with the right and taking with the left hand, especially coming in the wake of a new base pay which was announced early this month.

For Jemima Werebo, a branch manager of a Saving and Loans company in Kumasi, “it is just the salary increment that they want to take back. It is like giving people something with the right hand and subtly taking it back with the left. That is how I see it,” she explained.