Legislation to regulate cement pricing illegal, I will test it at the Supreme Court - Haruna Iddrisu

The Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu, has challenged the legality of the proposed legislation to regulate the pricing of cement in Ghana.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, July 3, 2024, the former Minority Leader opined that the legislation proposed by the Minister for Trade, Hon. Kobina Tahir Hammond, is illegal, adding that it is in contrast to what the constitution states, according to the Ghana Standard Authority Act 2022.

It is recalled that the Minister for Trade, who also serves as the Member of Parliament for Adansi-Asokwa in the Ashanti region, mentioned that he will lay legislation before Parliament to control the prices of cement. The proposal from the sector minister has generated conversations in the public space, with some supporting the idea while others vehemently oppose the proposal.

On July 1, 2024, there was a proposed meeting with the manufacturers of cement in Ghana at the premises of the Ministry of Trade.

However, the manufacturers boycotted the said meeting when they noticed the presence of journalists. According to the manufacturers, they were informed by officials from the ministry that the meeting was going to be held behind closed doors, only to be ambushed by journalists.

Despite the boycott, the sector minister added that he was going to push for the legislation to regulate the prices of cement on the Ghanaian market.

KT Hammond argued that the incessant rise in the prices of cement is quite alarming, thus proposing that the legislation be enacted. On the side of the manufacturers, the prices of raw materials keep changing due to the unstable nature of the dollar rate, hence the unstable price of cement.

In response to the above, Haruna Iddrisu, a former Trades Minister, argued that the constitution does not allow the prices of commodities to be controlled as the sector minister seeks to do.

“I will test this matter in the Supreme Court. The constitution in Article 11 provides that before a regulation, there must be a dependence on a parent Act."

He added, “Mr. Speaker, Ghana cannot stoop so low that in a democratic country, liberal, where market forces must determine prices, we have a minister acting to regulate pricing in the name of the republic.

"This is not to be contemplated by a government that believes in a property-owning democracy. You want to regulate pricing because you cannot control the exchange regime and the stability and strength of your cedi; because of it, you want to regulate and dictate that this must be the selling rate of cement.”