THE beauty of democracy is that a veritable platform is provided for the ventilation and cross-fertilisation of ideas and views from diverse individuals and groups constituting the socio-political systems.
Through this social discourse, an opportunity is created for individuals or groups to listen to, understand and appreciate the opinions and views of others they hitherto never heard of, let alone understood or appreciated.
This, among other things, provides a more harmonious and amicable means for resolving otherwise intractable problems or disputes, thereby creating social harmony and peace.
Given that conflict is central to every society, dialogue is generally perceived as an effective means of managing social conflict, this way protecting and promoting the diverse interests society has to contend with.
In the wake of the announcement by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) of an upward adjustment in electricity and water tariffs, varying views have been expressed, ranging from justification of the necessity of the increases to protests that the increases are too high and, therefore, unjustifiable.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC), the key umbrella grouping for workers in Ghana, at a press conference in Accra yesterday, expressed displeasure at the increases and indicated its resolve to take matters to more serious levels if the government did not prevail on the PURC to review the increments downwards (see pages 16/17).
There can be no denying the fact that the increases will have the cumulative effect, along with other competing demands on the income of workers, of reducing the purchasing power of workers who operate on fixed incomes.
We agree that it is within the rights and duties of the TUC to echo these sentiments for and on behalf of working people and seek ways of getting the PURC and, by extension, the government to take measures to ameliorate the situation.
We, however, wish to state that the other side of the equation, principally the survival and effectiveness of the utility service producers, be also factored into the debate.
While it may be true that some degree of inefficiency does characterise the operations of these utility companies and reflects ultimately in the cost they pass on to consumers, the stark truth is that through the combined fault of all of us, the utilities have over the years come to be saddled with huge debts, without whose redemption the companies face total collapse.
Over the years, we have not been able to match the tariffs accorded the utility companies with the real cost of delivery of service on a regular and sustained basis.
These under-recoveries, taken along with the massive theft of electricity and water through illegal connections and political decisions to shy away from increasing tariffs, have today brought our utility companies to the brink of collapse.
We are clearly on the edge of the cliff; either we take bold steps, which unmistakably require extra sacrifice from all of us, to salvage our utility companies to position them to deliver to public expectation or we continue with the wishy-washy approach of the past and have them collapse on our heads, with no prospect of delivery at all.
The choice should be clear.
We take particular notice of the fact that the utility companies today have a bigger task of serving a greater populace and a larger geographical area than ever before, given the expansion of government projects and programmes in the past and now.
We believe the answer to this chicken-and-egg situation of the utilities is one that offers them the resources and then hold them to account on delivery targets set for them and rigorously monitored and evaluated.
Given all these, we wish to appeal to the TUC to commence a process of dialogue with the PURC and the government, with a view to reaching an understanding that protects the interests of not only its constituents but also those of the utilities and the nation as a whole.
It is only through constructive dialogue that we can decipher the true national interest and protect all.
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