Page 12 - DMEA Week 42 2021

DMEA REFINING DMEA

Ghana’s Tema refinery

ought to be privatised

AFRICA SENYO Hosi, the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of has been set up to actually make some necessary
Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), has said that the inquiries and hold the fort in turn, which is a
Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has to be privatised to very good decision.”
stop it from acting as a drain on the Ghanaian He continued: “When new management
economy. inherits a culture, they may not be able to elim-
According to Hosi, TOR’s management team inate everything at a given point in time but
must be reconstituted to include private individ- should be able to spot them, take immediate
uals who have the requisite expertise and mana- action and recover, which the IMC has been able
gerial know-how to run the facility. to execute within a very short period of time.”
He made a statement to this effect in an Additionally, he said, “[the] key thing here
interview with JoyNews, following reports is that they [the IMC] are putting in systems to
that a number of TOR staff members had been start identifying where the loopholes are. I don’t
indicted for allegedly stealing some petroleum think the IMC is going to stay there for long.
products. That is a fact. But the most important thing for
“We have to take a strategic decision about TOR going forward is not just the appointment
privatising TOR because the government is bet- of an MD [managing director] in another board,
ter off taking revenue out of taxes from a func- which would be a continuation of the problem,”
tioning TOR under a private-sector hand who Dr. Theo Acheampong, a Ghanaian econo-
has skin in the game,” he said. mist and political risk analyst, agreed that TOR
“The strategic matter that has bedeviled TOR had been mismanaged for a long time. “Senyo
all this while is a governance matter that feeds is absolutely right because the problems of TOR
into the management matter,” he added. He are financial-, governance- and operational-re-
described TOR as a “national liability,” saying lated,” he said.
that Accra ought to identify the factors affecting “Some of the issues that we’re hearing today
work efficiency at the refinery. in relation to product losses and things not being
Hosi went on to say that he believed the best found were very existent some 12 to 13 years
way to solve the problems at the plant was to pri- ago,” Acheampong added. “So it tells you that
vatise TOR. But he also called for further action. some people there are getting rich at the expense
Commenting on the newly instituted Interim of the collective interest of the nation.”
Management Committee (IMC), Hosi said: “The Hosi had earlier commended the IMC for
strategic problem we have is not going to be actions taken to stop the theft of petroleum
solved by the appointment of a board. The IMC products from the facility.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 42 21•October•2021