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Claim: The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, has claimed that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government did not increase tariffs four years into government.
Verdict: False. According to data from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURC), the government increased utility tariffs, particularly electricity and water, by 5.94% and 2.22%, respectively in 2019. This was three years into its tenure in office.
Full Text
The hospitality industry, a significant contributor to Ghana’s tourism economy, recently decided to protest the continuous increment in utility tariffs. The hoteliers indicated that the negative effects of tariff increases on their operations and profitability are enormous.
Reacting to this development, the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Industry, Dr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, urged hoteliers to remain calm as the government works to revive the economy. In his appeal, he claimed that during the first four years of President Akufo Addo’s government, tariffs were not increased.
Mr Mohammed said:
“If you will remember, for four years, we never increased tariffs. Since President Akufo Addo’s time, from 2017, we [have] never increased tariffs. It’s just that we are facing some economic challenges, and we are working to restore the macroeconomic stability.
The claim was found in a news bulletin on August 30, 2023, on Citi TV’s major news bulletin, Citi Newsroom. The bulletin, which was streamed on Facebook, can be found from 54:11 -54:28. It has garnered over 3,000 views on Facebook.
Verification
President Akufo Addo began his administration on January 6, 2017. Putting the claim by the Tourism Minister into context, in the first four years (2017-2020) of the NPP administration, utility tariffs were not increased. Given this, our search was tailored to finding out if, from 2017 to 2020, there was an increment in tariff during the period.
In our search, we discovered that the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), the body that regulates tariffs, announced an increment in September 2019, just a year before the first four years of President Akufo-Addo came to an end. The increase was 5.94% in electricity and 2.22% in water tariffs.
This announcement took effect on October 1, 2019. Given this, the claim by the Tourism Minister is false.
A number of media houses also reported the increases as can be seen here and here.
Conclusion
The claim by the Tourism Minister that the NPP government did not increase tariffs four years into his government is untrue.
