Water, they say, is life, and for this reason everybody places the greatest premium on water, as well as its sources.
It is one resource that has no substitute, compelling people to travel long distances for water for drinking and other domestic uses.
The basic necessities of life are food, shelter and clothing, but without water life will not be worth living on earth.
All over the world, due diligence is paid to the provision of potable water because many water-borne diseases, such as bilharzia, cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery, affect the people as a result of their reliance on untreated water.
Governments, therefore, spend huge portions of their resources on the provision of potable water for the people to avoid the outbreak of water-borne diseases.
When the taps are not running in the cities and urban centres, residents go through harrowing experiences to get water. In cases where that is not possible, they rely on water from gutters, ponds and streams that are heavily polluted.
This explains why the importance of water in the daily endeavours of the people cannot be toyed with.
Majority of Ghanaians, therefore, raised serious concerns yesterday when water sachet producers decided to increase the price of their product, in conformity with Act 787 which imposed ad-valorem excise tax on “distilled, bottled and other packaged water”.
Following the adjustment, the vendors of sachet water on the streets of Accra and other places in the country also decided to raise the price by 100 per cent, generating furore among patrons of the product.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning has explained that Act 787, which imposes the tax, takes effect on Monday, March 1, 2010 but the implementation of the new tax regime does not include sachet water.
All that the Daily Graphic can say to this explanation is that it is well said and our hope is that the explanation will lay to rest the confusion on the streets of our cities and towns over the new price of sachet water.
We think, from our lay man’s point of view, that the inclusion of packaged water in the law may be the source of the confusion.
Already, some officials of tax-collecting agencies think that the law, as presently crafted, gives room for the collection of taxes on sachet water.
The Daily Graphic is, however, of the view that once the sector ministry has explained the rationale behind the law, the matter over taxes on sachet water should be laid to rest.
But we know that in our society when prices go up, operators are not willing to reduce them when the situation changes.
That is why the Daily Graphic encourages the Ministry of Finance to continue to engage the stakeholders and operators of the sachet water business in discussions to arrive at an amicable resolution of the challenge.
For, it will not be out of place to hear the operators begin to shift the goal post in order to engage in new arguments that because of the challenges with the supply of water and electricity, as well as the high cost of running their vehicles, they cannot reduce the price of sachet water.
If need be, the Ministry of Finance should refer the act back to Parliament with the intention of removing the grey areas from it in order to make for its smooth implementation and avoid creating any social tension
There are many challenges confronting the government in delivering on its social contract with the people and we should not allow the stakeholders to engage in ‘water politics’ to create disaffection for it.
The Daily Graphic also appeals to the operators of the water sachet business not to unjustifiably adjust the price of sachet water upwards because that is not what the law intends to achieve.
Water is precious to the sustenance of life and nothing should be done to make it unaffordable to the ordinary person.
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