Executive Director of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, Ghana (COPEC) says government appointees do not feel the heat of fuel price increment because they receive the commodity free.

Duncan Amoah said it is high time the country stopped giving appointees free fuel to appreciate the plight of Ghanaians better.

Speaking to Nhyira FM’s Nana Kwadwo Jantuah on Kuro Yi Mu Nsem show, he observed that fuel increment is no problem for many public office holders because they enjoy it at no cost.

"The unfortunate thing is that when you are in power, you don’t see petrol as a problem. So they will never understand if we don’t stop the free fuel.

"Any appointee who has been given V8 who enjoys free fuel will not understand you and will even insult you when you talk about fuel increment because they do not buy.

"They will always tag it as a global issue when speaking about the increment, but that is not wholly true; the cedi is also part."

Mr Amoah says the politics of Ghana has collapsed the Tema Oil Refinery, which should have been giving the citizens relief now that the price on the international market has shot up.

According to him, the Tema Oil Refinery was single-handedly contributing five per cent to Ghana’s GDP in the late 90s.

But for politics, it is currently contributing none, even when the country is producing crude oil in commercial quantities.

"Our politics has collapsed Tema Oil Refinery. They won't do the needed investment to update their plant and machinery; they leave it like that.

"In the late 90s, the Refinery was single-handedly contributing five per cent of Ghana’s GDP, but it is not even contributing 0.1 per cent; it is shut down now that we have oil in commercial quantity.

"By now gas should have been cheaper in this country, but it keeps on increasing. By the close of today, Ghana should be buying fuel from ¢9 to ¢12 per litre, an oil-producing country".