'Insensitive' Akufo-Addo has betrayed Ghanaians - Sammy Gyamfi

National Communications Officer for the largest opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi has described the recently adjusted utility tariffs by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) as “betrayal” and “insensitivity” of the Akufo-Addo government.

According to him, electricity and water are so essential and so it is important for the Akufo-Addo government to show sensitivity to the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.

“It is important for us to be objective and show sensitivity to the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian. For us in the NDC, our position on this matter is simple and our position is basically that not only is the recently announced increment in the electricity and water tariffs obnoxious but it is totally unjustifiable and untenable,” he slammed.

Contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s 'Alhaji and Alhaji' political show on Pan African TV, Sammy Gyamfi jabbed that “this increment in tariffs also amount to a monumental betrayal of the trust of Ghanaians, and it underscores the insensitivity of the Akufo-Addo government”.

He maintained that the promise of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the run up to the 2016 elections was clear as they promised lower utility tariffs and bemoaned what they described as “killer” electricity tariffs under President Mahama's administration.

“The then opposition NPP leader Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, we all recall, retorted at the time that so bad was the situation that cost of electricity was even higher at the time than cost of rent, and he therefore promised us better; he promised to reduce the cost of the electricity,” he recalled.

“What they have done is not in consonance to their promise; you promised lower utility tariffs and that is what you must deliver. What they have given us is higher utility tariffs . . . that is a fact,” he reiterated.

He therefore admonished politicians who are elected into office to take into account their promises as failure to do so will endanger them in the country as people who do opposite of what they promise the electorate.

“If we don’t take care, politicians will soon become endangered species in this country, because when the NPP was in opposition, we heard their rhetoric; we heard their utopian watering promises, and today they are doing the very opposite of what they promised,” he averred.