NPA: prices of Fuel Prices To Go Up by 40%, 90%, 140% respectively

The Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority, Alex Mould, says the NPA is ready to comply with the court’s directive, asking it to remove illegal price margins from the prices of petroleum products.

An Accra High Court on 28th November 2011 ordered the NPA to stop charging consumers with the ex-refinery differential. It further ordered the NPA to publish the total amount collected from the illegal imposition and pay it into the Consolidated Fund.

But the NPA, immediately, applied for stay of execution to enable it appeal the judgment. The plaintiffs, Mr Kwaku Kwarteng (the NPP parliamentary candidate for Obuasi), Mr Abdul Ganiyu of Tamale and Development Data filed a counter affidavit praying the Court to compel the NPA to obey before complain.

The High Court presided over by Mr Peter Dei on Tuesday upheld the case of the plaintiffs and refused the application for stay of execution. It also awarded a cost of GH¢ 500 against the NPA.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs, Mr Alex Abban told Joy New’s Isreal Laryea that the court ruled that the NPA’s price formulation “does not comply with the law and procedure” as established under the NPA Act, therefore the “appeal does not have any chance of succeeding”.

The court, he said, maintained that “It would not be in the interest of the nation to have this application granted.”

Mr Abban, however, noted; “After all even if it is not granted, whatever harm the NPA thinks it is going to suffer would not be borne by NPA as NPA but it would be borne by Ghanaians. But on the other hand, if the appeal doesn’t succeed, which is likely to be the case, we cannot find the various Ghanaians who paid those illegal monies and refund their monies to them.”

He said if the NPA failed to comply within seven days, his clients would do everything legally possible for the NPA to comply with the order.

NPA boss, Mr Alex Mould told Joy News after the ruling he was disappointed.

He repeated suggestions compliance with the court ruling will lead to price increases in LPG, kerosine, premix fuel and negligible reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel.

“We are waiting for the actual instruction from the court, and it would be immediate. We are law abiding but kerosene would definitely go up by about 85 or 90%, premix would go up by 140%, LPG would go up again by about 40%. This is immediately going to affect people and I think the people of Ghana must understand and know the truth behind this…diesel will go down about 1% and I think petrol will go down by something like 3% or so.”