The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) on Wednesday said government's only justification to increase fuel must stem from its preparedness to curtail the indiscipline in the energy sector.
Supporting the increase though, the Union stated that government must also check mismanagement at the Tema Oil Refinery, ensuring stability of the cedi and increasing wages and salaries as well as reducing the high tax on petroleum products.
Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, President of the Union at a press conference in Accra said these conclusions were reached at the just ended Central Committee meeting at Kumasi on the state of Ghana's economy.
Touching on education, he said the Central Committee has called for an astronomical increase in final year student's grants, adding that, "We deem the current 5,000 cedis inappropriate and absolutely unrealistic."
The Committee also said it recognised the importance of continued education of teachers, hence demanded the abolition of all "unorthodox measures that discourage Teacher Training graduates from pursuing further education.
"NUGS, he said, is opposed to any increase with respect to the Value Added Tax, saying, "VAT is a regressive tax that over-burdens the poor and downtrodden in society hence siphoning disproportionately greater chunk of their meagre income."
Boamah said whether government is talking about water privatisation or private participation of water, both, according to NUGS', would lead to rate increases, undermine water quality, foster corruption and reduce public rights and local control therefore, oppose it.
