Bawumia concerned about high fuel prices

He has therefore directed the Ministry of Energy and other allied ministries to formulate strategies that will address prices in fuel and also the use of gas vehicles in the country.

Dr. Mahmudu Bawumia was speaking at a national energy transition forum organized by the ministry of energy in Accra.

He said “In certain places where the energy transition is being implemented people have felt alienated by such policy and they perceive these policies as elitists.

“Such persons have the feeling that the elites are out of touch with their lives and are not aware or do not care about what matters to them. We, therefore, need everybody to be on board if we are to succeed in this quest. We need to develop plans and implement options that people can relate to or be comfortable using. Consequently, we must listen to the people on how they want energy transition to occur.

I commend the Ministry of Energy and the hardworking Minister for Energy Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh for using this approach and I am hopeful that at the end of the day the new options that we implement will improve the lives of our people rather than hit the pickets of the poor. We should give equal opportunities to all citizens to enjoy the benefits of the energy transition and ensure social justice in the process.”

He noted that “There is less funding available for oil exploration and exploitation and you are seeing this in an increase in oil prices globally today, as this transition is being talked about and is taking place. But we, in many of the developing g counties are facing these very high costs of petroleum prices that are resulting in many economic impacts such as inflation in many countries as prices of goods increase in response to the increase in petroleum prices. So we have to be very aware of where this is going.

“There are many who have said that the petroleum prices increase is going to remain as such high levels, we are not going to see any major declines, then how do we as developing countries like Ghana adjust to this new reality if it becomes the new normal of high oil prices and petroleum prices and its impact on the macro variable in our respective economies. It is clear that we need to have a plan hence this is what this stakeholder conference is about.”

The national energy transition forum was to discuss the need to move from the use of fossils to renewable energy.

The forum was also against the backdrop of the climate change conference held in Glasgow in the UK last year.

At the climate change conference, African leaders raised issues about just 5 percent of the funding they receive from the developed countries from their emissions.

The conference concluded on the need for countries to speed up an energy transition program to reduce emissions.

Currently, the united kingdom will by 2030 halt the production of fossil and diesel-powered vehicles to gas.

The situation has resulted in hikes in fuel prices in some countries including Ghana.

Vice president Dr. Mahmudu Bawumia who was disturbed about the hikes in fuel prices charged the sector minister of energy and other key partners to help address the fuel prices.