The Food and Beverage Association of Ghana (FABAG) has expressed concerns about the country’s deteriorating economic conditions, saying it could undermine the government’s efforts to combat corruption.
This follows the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission’s announcement of an increase in electricity and water tariffs, effective July 1.
PURC stated that there will be a 3.45% increase in electricity tariffs for lifeline consumers, a 5.84% increase for all other residential consumers, and a 5.16% increase in water tariffs for all customer classes for the period under review.
Speaking to the press on the impact of such increases on production, the Executive Chairman of the Food and Beverage Association of Ghana, John Awuni, believes this economic pressure could negate the government’s anti-corruption initiatives as people struggle to cope with the rising cost of living.
“People are under serious pressure, and when you keep pushing people to the wall like this, your fight against corruption is going to be zero or nullified, because clearly people are in survival mode. And any human being or any living thing that is in survival mode will do anything at all to survive, and corruption definitely will be one of the things that people will resort to in order to survive.”
“No wonder you cannot get any file at the ministry passed without paying something. Literally, everybody seems to have privatized his or her desk to survive these living conditions.”
