My 18-year-old son can run Ghana if… - Ursula

The Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ablekuma West constituency, Mrs Ursula Owusu Ekuful, has said if governance was all about borrowing and increasing taxes, then her 18-year-old son could run the country.

“If that is all governance is about my 18-year old son can run this country, we don’t need John Mahama. If all governance is about, is ‘increase taxes, go and borrow’,… if we didn’t demand thinking outside the box to solve the problems of the country and all you could do is just pass on the buck to the tax payer and then just pile on taxes. What skill does that demand?” she asked on News File Saturday January 9, 2015 on Joy FM.

Mrs Ekuful was referring to recent hikes in utility tariffs - which have gone up by 59.2% and 67.2% for electricity and water respectively - petroleum products (27%), as well as a 1% tax introduced on investments.

Asked by the host, Samson Lardy Anyenini, if the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would join Organised Labour to demonstrate against government for the hike in taxes and utilities, Mrs Ekuful said there are NPP members in Organised Labour as well as NDC and CPP.

“But this is a matter that affects the people of this country. Apart from those who are feeding fat off our sweat, who can afford to say ‘Oh it’s OK, let’s just pay’, every other Ghanaian is sweating blood but this government does not see it and Dr Joe Abbey said long time ago you cannot tax and borrow yourself out of this economic mess that you are in and yet it appears that is the only solution that this government has – taxing and borrowing itself out of the mess.

“It borrows for projects and then wastes the taxes that we pay painfully. But everyone is feeling the pinch and there is only so much pain that someone can take. There is this analogy that if you want to boil a frog, it’s a cold-blooded animal so you put it in cold water and put it on fire and increase the heat gradually. It adjusts its body temperature to accommodate the changing temperature of the water, so, before it’s aware, it has been boiled to death and it appears that is exactly what this government is doing.

“Since we have been adjusting and tightening our belts and adapting to the hardship they assume that they can continue piling on more and more pain.”