I would like to make a humble suggestion to government or the agency responsible for the pricing of the new Road Tolls. I hope that government would painstakingly take the time to really read this and ponder over it if it makes sense. And if it does, I would suggest that the tolls are reviewed to make sure that the one pesewa and the five pesewas coins are taken care of. I bet that if we go with the pricing as announced or published in the newspapers then we have definitely killed the 1p, the 5p and probably the 10p coins. There is one thing we have to realize;

1. The road tolls have greatly helped in stabilizing the cedi. The 1p coin, the 5p coin, the 10p, 20p coins have been sustained in the market particularly because of the road tolls. 2.We must appreciate the fact that huge sums of the tax-payers money has been used to mint these coins. If our pricing system does not make the small denominations of our currency relevant we would just end up packing these coins back into the Bank of Ghana vaults. 3.We changed to the new currency just three years ago (1 July 2007). I can foresee the 1p coin, the 5p coin and the 10p coin being packed back into the BOG vaults because they will become completely insignificant if even the road tolls do not value them. 4.It is quite important to point out that if the above coins fizzle out of the system it can have serious inflationary consequences on the economy; dough nut sellers, sachet water or “pure water” seller, chips and roasted plantain/ground nut (or peanut) sellers who are now selling their packages at around 5p 10p etc would quickly try to push their prices up to the nearest round figure i.e. maybe 50p. What do we think will happen to prices of other items in the market? Ghanaians have the propensity of pushing prices to the nearest round figure.

My suggestion to government or the powers that be is that we have to pass legislation on our pricing system so that the last pesewa would be protected and made to be very relevant in the economy. If government would really want to protect the one pesewa coin, then government organizations must take the lead in the pricing of their products and services to make the 1p relevant. Some questions really bother me; • Why can’t our newspapers sell at prices such as Gh¢ 1.22 or maybe 89p etc.? • Why can’t government make sure that mobile telephony companies price their rechargeable units to sustain the relevance 1p coin e.g. Gh¢ 5.43 Gh¢ 10.06? If these smaller coins would be saved, it must start with the pricing of road tolls, mobile telephony rechargeable units, the dailies. tater on, others will follow. I wish to suggest the pricing of the New Road Tolls as follows: Vehicle Type: Motorbikes: 11p or 96p Saloon cars: 48p or 53p Pick-ups/light buses: 88p or GhC 1.08 Mummy wagons: GhC 1.27 or GhC 1.08 2-axle vehicles: GhC 1.47 or GhC 1.52 3-axle trucks: GhC 1.88 or GhC 2.03 Heavy goods trucks: GhC 1.95 or GhC 2.06 5 or more axle: GhC 2.53 or GhC 2.55 Agricultural tractor: GhC 0.53 Agricultural tractor with trailer: GhC 0.62 I finally want to suggest to government to suspend the implementation of the new road tolls for one more week for a good review to be done. There are many advantages we will derive from maintaining and sustaining the coins in the market, not to talk about its impact on the learning situation in the classrooms in our schools. Please don’t kill the coins. Please, Please, Please Let us save the 1p coin !!!! Cephas Nani Tema, 0244 698022