General News of Wednesday, 6 January 2016

Source: classfmonline.com

Fuel price hikes: Terkper could face censor motion

Finance Minister Seth Terkper Finance Minister Seth Terkper

The Minority caucus in Parliament is considering passing censor motion or vote of no confidence in Finance Minister, Seth Terkper, for dishonesty in connection with the implementation of recent increases in prices of petroleum products.

The 27% upward adjustment, which was approved by Parliament a day after it was sent there on December 21, 2015, has angered consumers.

Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance, Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah, told Class News that the Minority could move a motion in the House for the vote of no confidence because of what he describes as a dishonest stance by Mr. Terkper.

He said: “Government said they did not expect the prices to go up by more than 5%. It turned out that prices went up by about 27%. All we are saying is government was not truthful to the Ghanaian people.”

“There are options available to us. The Minister could be hauled to Parliament to explain why the 5% ended up being 27%. Conversely, we could also move a motion of censor, that is the highest form of punishment a Minister could get, a censor motion, more or less a vote of no confidence in him,” he added.