The Institute Energy Security has said that the government is embarking on an unrealistic mission in search of of cheap reliable fuel around the world.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced in his address on Sunday October 30 that the government was working to secure reliable and regular sources of affordable petroleum products for the Ghanaian market to stabilise fuel prices.
Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah had said that the government has tasked the Energy Ministry and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to find reliable and cheaper sources of fuel.
He said “The deregulated market we have here where BDCs import from big companies on high fees from the refinery wherever and bring them in is contributing to the quickened escalation of fuel prices.
“To arrest it, the Energy Ministry working through NPA and other agencies etc is been tasked to finding reliable, cheaper sources of fuel for the Republic so that the OMCs locally can tap into and hopefully halt that escalation in fuel prices.”
The IES in a statement issued on Thursday November 3 said “Meanwhile, the search for that heavily discounted fuel price from elsewhere is an unrealistic hope, and the team may return empty handed, unless the expectation/request is exchanged with something valuable to the would-be supplier.
“If His Excellency the President and the handlers of Ghana’s Energy Ministry look within, they would find what they are desperately looking for from outside the country. Indeed the search for reliable and affordable source of petroleum products starts with the Tema Oil Refinery, which has been down since March 2021, due to lack of crude oil which is the refinery’s main raw material.
“It beats ones imagination how an oil producing country with a refinery capacity of 45,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd), would have it top government officials abandon its domestic competitive advantage, and rather seek to import refined petroleum product elsewhere, in the name of reliability and affordability.”
Source: 3news.com
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What the IES failed to realize is that they are are also buying from the same market, if it's possible to get cheaper fuel somewhere, why not. You said their hope is unrealistic and turns round to again say 'they MAY come empty handed '. If you are sure why didn't you say ' they WILL come empty handed '? Fact is that Ghanaians are suffering, people are struggling to survive, you need to be on the ground to appreciate what Ghanaians are going through, those working are not laughing, as for the unemployed, God have mercy. I thought the policy think tanks would have been coming out with policy options to get out of this crisis instead of being pessimistic. You just can't understand why a country endowed with all the natural resources you can think of i.e. Gold, bauxite, manganese, timber, cocoa, crude oil, two giant harbours ( Takoradi and Tema) , favourable rainfall patterns, vast arable lands with a population of some 31 million people can't manage these resources to enable the people live meaningful lives. One will not be far from right to say these vast natural resources are becoming a curse rather than a blessing. 65 year old independent country still struggling to find it's way is serious. God save us
The government should as a matter of immediate term action allow the following to ease the burden on the citizens: 1. Allow the ayalolo buses in Accra, Tadi, Kumasi and send some to other parts like Tamale to run free services. 2. Fuel allocation to all appointees be reduced by 40%. 3. Allow the Accra -Tema train service to run free and also the places where there is service. These free service can go on from November to December 2022. My humble suggestions