Ghanaians will enjoy another three months of free water and electricity supply as the government further reduces the burden of the Covid-19 pandemic on the citizenry.
The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, who announced this during his Mid-Year Budget Review, said it was because the government puts the concerns and aspirations of the ordinary Ghanaian first.
“That is also why we further reduced electricity prices by half and completely provided potable water for free for everybody since March this year. And we will extend it for another three months,” he told Parliament, Thursday.
In April this year, the President announced three months of free electricity for consumers of a particular category, to make up for lost income following a lockdown in Accra and Kumasi due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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He also announced the government’s decision to absorb water bills for all Ghanaians for April, May and June following complaints of lack of potable drinking water in many communities affected by the lockdown.
According to the Minister, the free water initiative would be for all water consumers while the electricity supply would be limited to only lifeline consumers.
“It takes a caring government of the people, and with that, I mean, a government of all the people, to offer cost-free water to all across the country: representing all domestic and commercial customers in Ghana for three months.
“It takes a caring government to be for the people and for business, large and small, to choose to subsidise electricity consumption by 50 per cent to 4,086,286 households and 686,522 businesses at a cost of GH¢1.02 billion in three months. And we will extend the coverage for lifeline customers for another three months,” he said.