Accra, March 10, GNA - The leader and presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, has pledged that when he is given the mandate, his government will adopt a petroleum pricing policy that will reduce the prices of petroleum products.

Speaking at a rally in Bolgatanga on Sunsay as part of his nationwide tour, Professor Atta Mills told the people that a Mills-led government will not follow the current petroleum pricing policy of the New Patriotic Party.

A statement in Accra from the NDC said Professor Mills told the crowd that as the leader of a party that is hooked on to the centre-left political ideology of social democracy, there is no way his government will allow the vulnerable and disadvantaged in society to continue to suffer unnecessarily from vagaries of the international crude oil market.

He said governments were voted into power to better the lot of the people, especially the vulnerable and disadvantaged, and because he would want his successes to be measured by the amount of social intervention programmes that would be implemented, Ghanaians can be sure that a Mills-led government would not overburden them with a suffocating petroleum pricing policy.

"As an economy that is developing, we have to do the trade-off between a petroleum pricing policy that will stretch us beyond acceptable limits and make the cost of doing business very expensive as opposed to a policy that will make the cost of doing business acceptable so that both local and international investors can operate in a business friendly environment and open up the job market" Professor Mills said. "All we need is a very efficient way of managing our crude oil purchase in a manner that will not allow us to be so vulnerable to the vagaries of the oil market and also make sure that we have an efficient storage regime and we will not have to be increasing petroleum prices three to four times in a matter of weeks.

"Of course, if God blesses us with our own crude oil, and as a leader of a government that will exploit its expertise in negotiating in the greater interest of the country, I can promise you that the price of petroleum products will not be as exorbitant as they are now." Professor Mills said a as a tax expert, he knew for a fact that his government would be able to adopt a bearable petroleum pricing policy and still rake in the needed revenue from that sector for developing the nation.

"It is not only about revenue collection. What is most important is the efficient deployment of whatever revenue that accrues to the nation and I assure you that I will manage the resources of the nation judiciously."

Speaking specifically to issues concerning the Upper East Region, the NDC leader promised that his government would make sure that the region got a first class regional hospital.

"The NDC's track record in providing first class health facilities to the regions and districts is very visible and I will continue from where we left off," the NDC leader said.

Professor Mills also promised to look at the possibility of harnessing the wind advantage the Upper East Region has, in order to venture into the sphere of generating wind energy.

According to Professor Mills, agriculture is going to be one of the key pivots around which his government will revolve and so the wind energy will be used to power the irrigation plants that will be used for large scale farming, especially in the areas of tomato and watermelon farming.

Professor Mills also promised to set up the factories that will manage the large scale farming of watermelon and tomatoes. 10 March 08