Trade and Industry Minister Kobina Tahir (K.T.) Hammond has justified plans to introduce the controversial Legislative Instrument (L.I.) seeking to regulate cement prices in the country.
According to him, the L.I will bring uniformity and address the growing concerns over fluctuating prices.
Contrary to claims of manufacturers that there was no consultation, the Adansi-Asokwa Member of Parliament has said otherwise.
“I asked them to ensure that something was done about it. In my absence, I was told that the minister wasn’t going to be able to do anything. They would not listen, they wouldn’t do it, and they would go the way they want.
Encouraging them to do it is a moral persuasion. If moral persuasion fails, there is a system in the country, there’s a Constitution, and we are preyed by a rule of law” he added.
The Minority in Parliament on Tuesday blocked the Minister’s attempts to lay the document, stating it must first be discussed.
Speaking to journalists in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Hammond said the L.I. is necessary to prevent a cartel of cement manufacturers from exploiting the public.
“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 behoves those in responsible positions in 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.
The Trade Minister emphasising that every sector of the economy requires cement, he bemoaned there is something fundamentally wrong with pricing.
“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,” he noted.
The Minister added that, if the Constitution mandates him to bring an L.I. to regulate cement pricing, he will do so to ensure compliance.
“If we don’t accept the moral principle, at least some sort of economic principle, the good people of Ghana must benefit. I don’t think it is fair for the way they are pricing and the way, haphazardly each one of them decides and dictates how much a bag of cement should be sold for.
“This is quite apart from the quality that they are producing. Some of the companies are producing substandard products. We have had to deal with this matter,” he explained.
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