The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company Limited, Frances Essiam, has warned public officials engaged in illegal importation of second hand cylinders to desist from the act or be prosecuted.
According to her, there is a ban on the importation of second hand cylinders and the company will prosecute all officials who engage in the trade on the Ghanaian market.
Speaking in an interview with Class Business, Ms Essiam said a task force would be formed and when inaugurated will ensure the full implementation of the ban.
“The Minister for the Interior, the Minister for Environment, and other stakeholders will meet pretty soon to ensure that there is a task force, because it is banned by law and the laws must be enforced that those who sell the cylinders are dealt with,” she stated.
She added that the second hand cylinders come through the ports, “so that means customs will also be an integral part of the task force”, adding: “They engage in such a manner that the bad nuts amongst them will be weeded out because these things come in containers and they are inspected. So how do they get to the market? So anybody who is a public official or a private person who is found culpable will automatically have to face criminal sanctions at the law court because the whole problem begins with officialdom.”
According to her: “The people within officialdom and public circles are the ones who do these things and at the end of the day you go and arrest the person selling it and what do you achieve? So we have to block it at the port of entry and make sure that all the big fish, those big people behind this illegal importation of banned second hand cylinders, are dealt with to save lives and limbs. And therefore it means we must be in a position also to ensure we take over the market.”
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