The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, has accused the President of ruling the country with "populist eloquence". According to him, President Mills promised that until the utility companies provide Ghanaians with quality services, there was not going to be any increase in tariffs. The utility companies requested the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) for a 154 per cent increase in tariffs for their services due to the high cost of inputs, equipment and spare parts used to provide these services. But in response to this request, President J.E.A. Mills on April 23, 2010, stated that “there should be value for money, consumers would only be prepared to pay higher bills and tariffs if there was evidence that the utility services had improved their delivery to customer satisfaction”, adding that “government would support such increase only if there is improvement in service delivery.” However, the PURC announced new tariffs for both water and electricity to take effect from Tuesday, June 1, 2010. On average, electricity was increased by 89% while water was increased by 36%. Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Tuesday, Mr Otchere-Darko asked, “Have they [improved on their services] between April [when the President made his statements on the issue] and now?” Commenting on the government’s decision cushion the poor from the tariff increases to the tune of GH¢48, the Danquah Institute boss noted that the subsidy would simply not work. This he explained was due to the fact that the targeted consumers, who are meant to benefit from the subsidy, live in compound houses and as such consume more than the 50 units range within which they are entitled to a reprieve. Gabby Otchere-Darko advised the government that it can not resolve the nation’s problems by resorting to ‘populist gimmicks’, emphasizing that “you can afford to be populist and live a life of propaganda in opposition but you can not run a country by making populist noise.” By: Dorcas Efe Mensah/myjoyonline.com/Ghana