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Now that the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament has exonerated the Electricity Company of Ghana of any charge of deliberately sabotaging the Mahama administration through outrageous tariffs, what will be the next excuse from members of the National Democratic Congress for the high increase in electricity tariffs?

Since the announcement of the new electricity tariffs by the Public Utility Regulatory Commission in December, last year, Ghanaians have had to pay extremely outrageous charges. For close to six months, the Mahama government decided not to do anything about the situation even though it was aware of what was going on.

That is why we at the New Statesman remain convinced that the extremely high tariffs, far higher than what Ghanaians were supposed to be paying, was a dubious means by President Mahama and his government to get some ‘illegal’ funds to support their campaign budget for this year’s general elections.

Seeking desperately to create the false impression that they were unaware of the situation, and remained sympathetic to their plight of the masses, functionaries of the Mahama government sought to accuse the ECG of being in cahoots with the opposition New Patriotic Party to make the government unpopular.

In the end, spirited attempts were made to blame faulty billing software for the unbearable charges. But, now the cat is out of the bag finally, after the Mines and Energy Committee of Parliament met with officials of ECG.

According to the committee, the huge electricity charges was not the result of any faulty billing software, neither could it be any sabotage from any quarters, but the consequence of bad policies of the Mahama government, through imposition of many taxes.

Undeniably, the hardship imposed on Ghanaians from these high utility tariffs is the result of the bad policies of the NDC administration, with imposition of killer taxes at the height.

Consumers of electricity are currently paying additional 10 per cent levy following the implementation of the Energy Sector Levies Act 2015(Act 899). Other taxes on electricity are GHC 7 flat rate for every consumer and a VAT of 17.5% for commercial users. Can this be blamed on ECG?

The Mahama government has always taken Ghanaians for granted with lame excuses here and there for its numerous failures, but this time around, Ghanaians are wide-awake and can decipher between propaganda and facts.

The myriad of problems facing this country, including the collapse of businesses, unemployment among others is self-inflicted, a situation the NDC government could have avoided if it had put the nation first. At the height of these problems is the high electricity tariff.

What was the incompetent Mahama led administration envisaging when it started messing with the affairs of the country? Obviously, we are where we are because of how the Mahama government has mismanaged the economy over the years.

What makes the matter annoying is that the government thinks Ghanaians are fools, and so it can use any lame excuses as cover-up for its incompetence and mismanagement, just as it had been seeking to do with the high electricity tariffs.

Ghanaians deserve a sincere group of people to manage the affairs of the nation, other than insincere people who always seek to reduce serious governance issues to propaganda.