Deputy Ranking Member on the Energy Committee in Parliament, Collins Adomako-Mensah, has described President John Dramani Mahama’s decision to scrap the fuel allowance for government appointees as a mere tactic to calm public outrage over the implementation of the Gh¢1 tax on petroleum products.
According to him, the President knows the Ghana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) planned implementation of the fuel tax, and anticipating public backlash, has strategically decided to remove fuel allowances for appointees to mitigate the impact.
“GRA announced some few weeks ago that the suspended implementation of the Gh¢1 per liter will kick-start (Wednesday, July 16); the President knows it and he knows that Ghanaians are angry.
“He wants to reduce tension in the system, he has brought directives that he is taking out the allowances,” Mr. Adomako-Mensah said in an interview on Tuesday, July 15, 2025.
He mentioned that the Minister of Finance, Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson recently provided a detailed analysis of the fuel tax’s impact, highlighting that 5.7billion cedis is intended to be generated and will come directly from Ghanaians because they will definitely pay the tax.
Mr. Adomako-Mensah reiterated that the President Mahama administration just wanted to calm Ghanaians down and that explains why he introduced an instruction to eliminate the fuel allowance.
He drew a parallel with the free SHS policy introduced by former President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo, where the burden of paying fees was lifted from Ghanaians without indirectly increasing other charges.
Similarly, he argued that President Mahama’s decision to scrap fuel allowances for Government appointees does not justify imposing the fuel levy on Ghanaians.
“When Akufo-Addo brought free SHS, he took that burden out of Ghanaians and because he took that burden off, you expect him to use the backdoor to increase levies because he has taken the burden out of you? That cannot be a justification,” he said.
