THE recent upward adjustments in utility tariffs — 42 per cent for water and 36 per cent for electricity — have attracted the ire of consumers across the board, especially those in large households and industrial consumers.
In addition to domestic consumers, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the Ghana Employers Association (GEA) and other income earners have kicked against the hikes. Their mantra is that the increases will adversely affect their well-being.
Organised labour, for instance, issued an ultimatum to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to review the tariffs or it will mobilise its members to stage demonstrations in the country.
The GEA has also appealed to the PURC to stagger the adjustment in a two-step approach now and next year to reduce the negative impact on consumers and businesses.
Ghana has been rated a friendly investment destination but captains of business and industry are of the view that if the PURC fails to adjust the tariffs downwards, the competitiveness of goods and services will be affected.
It is believed that the upward adjustments will reduce the profitability of many organisations, especially those in the steel, textile and garments, pharmaceutical and household manufacturing industries that consume high volumes of power and water.
During the last two years or so, the environment for business operations has not been very conducive due to the global economic downturn. Some businesses are just about recovering from the shock of economic challenges.
The government has, through pragmatic and austerity measures, arrested the decline in the value of the cedi, while interest rates are falling, due to the drop in the rate of inflation.
Now that the indicators point to a recovery of the economy, the Daily Graphic thinks nothing should be done to disturb the plan to attain a single-digit inflation as soon as possible.
High utility rates and labour agitation for more salaries will certainly cause some amount of disequilibrium in the economy.
What, then, do we do in the circumstance? The option may not be the introduction of subsidies for services across the board nor astronomical increases in the prices of goods and services.
The Daily Graphic believes the time has come for a tight balance to be found between cost recovery and affordability in our quest to put the economy on an even keel.
We believe that the efficient functioning of public utilities and organisations depends on our collective resolve to help the system to work. This could include our readiness to pay realistic rates and work hard enough in whatever positions we are placed in the public service.
That is why we all need to assist to avert the looming strikes by organised labour and other groups in protest against the upward adjustments in utility tariffs.
We urge organised labour to sustain the spirit of its crucial meeting with President J.E.A. Mills at the Castle on Thursday to plan a way out of the current impasse between the PURC and the TUC over the hikes in utility tariffs.
These are challenging times for all and it is important that the parties in the discussions for a possible review of the tariffs remain at the negotiating table until a compromise is found.
The option of a strike or street protests by organised labour may not be in the interest of the country, for it is said that when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. In other words, when two powerful forces are engaged in a tug of war, it is the ordinary people who suffer.
The challenges in the economy should not be compounded by walkouts and street protests because the nation requires the services of everybody to reconstruct a better Ghana.
The Daily Graphic calls on the stakeholders to stick to the outcome of the meeting the President had with the leadership of workers in order to sustain industrial harmony.
The President’s efforts at meeting organised labour to build rapport for nation building is commendable and we urge his men to sustain the spirit to reach a compromise on utility tariffs.
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