By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Sierra Leone government has rejected calls by civil society activist and a consumer protection body to reduce the pump price of fuel which stands at Le3,750 per liter, citing heavy burden caused by subsidy.
The campaigners cited the sharp fall in crude oil prices on the global market in the last few weeks as a compelling reason to get the government to reduce the pump prices, drawing examples from neighboring countries where governments had yielded to public demands.
Ibrahim Kabia, president of Consumer Protection Agency, said: “The people are yearning for a reasonable decrease in pump price.” He pointed out that the current price of Le 3, 750 per litre was unacceptable and that they were suggesting that the price be reduced to Le 2, 500 per litre.
But this increased pressure from civil society groups and other individuals met stiff resistance from the Petroleum Regulatory Authority (PRA) whose executive chairman,
Dan Mason, said: “The drop in price in the global market is for crude oil and what Sierra Leone is getting are refined oil products.”
Mason dismissed the argument that the economic hardship Sierra Leoneans were faced with was as a result of increase in fuel prices. He, however,said that he was aware of the harsh economic conditions in the country, but argued that that was not isolated to Sierra Leone.
“The global situation is bad, Sierra Leone is not the only country going through the turbulent times,” Mason said.
Mabinty Turay, a petty trader and a mother of two, said every day she would have to spend Le 15, 000 on transportation. Mabinty and her family reside at Babadorie, Lumley, west of Freetown, and the children attend the Annie Walsh Memorial School at Kissy Road in the east.
But the government said it continued to subsidize fuel product at Le 6.5 billion (US$1.1 million) per month since January 2016 and argued that reducing the cost of pump price would only increase their losses.
Samura Conteh, minister of state in the ministry of finance, said the intervention of government was the only factor that could keep the pump price of fuel at the current price. Some officials had project that if government decided to drop the pump price to Le2, 500 it would have to pay an extra Le1.4 billion per week to petroleum dealers in the country.
For years the prices of crude oil in the global market have continued to plunge from US$108 in 2013 to US$30 per barrel in 2016.
Supporters for the call to reduce the pump prices say this drastic fall in global price has not been adequately reflected locally.
(C) Politico 01/03/16
