Government has stated that it has no intention to interfere in the work of the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC), adding that its recent statement on utility tariff increases did not amount to directing the commission to reduce the tariffs. In the statement issued over the weekend, government asked the PURC to meet with the utility providers to discuss the social and economic impact of the tariffs. The move has raised questions over whether government has the power to instruct the PURC to convene such a meeting. However, Information Minister, John Tia, says the government’s action was “not a directive, it is an appeal to the PURC”, noticing the independence of the PURC. He explained that after the government had heard from labour unions and other interested bodies, it found it prudent to urge the “PURC to sit down with labour to address the concerns”. Mr Tia said lumping small groups like hairdressers with big industries and charging them with the same tariff “is not fair”, hence the need to propose such a meeting to resolve some of these anomalies. “We are saying that before they come to such a congregation, they should be able to convince labour that, look, what we have done is the best, if they cannot do that and labour is also able to prove that... what they have done is way off board and it is bringing hardship to people” then [we can say] the “PURC should at least bend backwards and look at their situation.” He said whether the tariffs would be reduced or not would largely depend on whether each side is able to convince the other or not. However, government would not hesitate to “give consideration”, when the need arises. When Joy News contacted officials at the PURC, they declined to comment on the government's statement. Meanwhile the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on government to suspend the recent utility tariffs. General Secretary of the TUC, Kofi Asamoah, says the suspension of the tariffs will prevent consumers from going bankrupt. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana