Former Finance Minister Seth Terkper has said the move to regulate cement prices in Ghana with a Legislative Instrument (L.I) speaks of how far the country has come with the management of the economy.
In a post on his X platform, he said “Welcome to the 1983 pre-ERP/SAP world. After 40 plus years, we are back to controlling commodity price? Something confined to utility pricing only?
“Tells you how far we have come with managing the economy in the last few years. Which commodity is next?”
He was reacting to Trade and Industry Minister Kobina Tahir (K.T.) Hammond said The Legislative Instrument (L.I) is to ensure that sanity prevails in the market.
To KT Hammond, there is something fundamentally wrong with cement pricing in the country hence the introduction of the L.I.
“At a point in time, we are not producing so much cement in the country. Now we have an installed capacity of over 11 million tons in the country. Our demand is nothing like 11 million, so it must be a very profitable enterprise. But I think it behooves on those in responsible positions of authority to ensure that the good people of Ghana are not fleeced. I am not comfortable, I don’t believe that we’re getting good prizes for all that it’s worth,” he said.
“Now I take the view that it’s about time that the country was better served by those who are selling this product to us.
“You have a kind of arbitrariness in the pricing of cement. It’s been so haphazard, I strongly believe that there must be some sanity in the system,” K.T. Hammond told journalists in Parliament on Wednesday, June 26.
This was after an attempt to lay the document in Parliament on Tuesday, June 26, was blocked by the Minority.
The opposition lawmakers insisted the L.I. must first be discussed.
