IN THE MATTER OF TOR’S PROBLEMS: FRAGA OIL & CO NOT THE ISSUE, ARREST K. K. SARPONG INSTEAD

INTRODUCTION

For reasons not far fetched, the nation's only refinery, the Tema Oil Refinery, has been in the news for a greater part of Ghana's fourth Republic. We daresay the refinery has made the headlines all these years only for the negative reasons. But for a lot more Ghanaians, TOR became a household name when the erstwhile NPP won political power in the year 2000. Especially within the first term of the regime, the TOR debt [then around $300m] was brandished by the negative vociferous NPP as one of the reasons for the alleged appalling state of the economy. Today, the predicament of TOR is monumental, even dire. We are sure however, that even though TOR's predicament was inherited from the NPP, the current NDC government has been lethargic in facing the real problems of TOR head-on. We believe that current approaches have been peripheral, to say the least. The thrust of this piece is to show why attention has been diverted from the main issue at TOR.

We are reliably informed that the refinery has not refined crude oil since the September of 2008 when the NPP was the government in power with K. K. Sarpong as the Chief Executive Officer at TOR. We also hasten to add that in the year 2000, there were only nine (9) oil marketing companies that lifted oil directly from TOR for the market, but within eight years, the NPP regime helped to bring into existence forty-eight (48) OMCs bringing the total figure to fifty-seven (57). Fraga Oil & Co is just one of these 57 OMCs. We are privy to the fact that because a host of these were creatures of the past NPP government, They either partially paid for oil lifted from TOR, or failed to pay at all thus compounding the precarious financial situation of TOR.

Commutatively, it is said that these OMCs owe around GH¢62m to TOR, Fraga Oil & Co included but we clearly do not understand attempts by some media houses, certain people at TOR and even certain big wigs in government to make it look as though Fraga Oil & Co is the only debtor to TOR.

To place Fraga Oil & Co at the front burner position in the wake of the current TOR crises is to play the ostrich. Until the 23rd of October, 2009 when the refinery had not been able to raise letters of credit, what was Fraga Oil & Co crime in TOR's problem ? Or is it a case of giving a dog a bad name to hang it? It is

instructive to note that whereas workers at TOR do not at all see the indebtedness of the OMCs (let a lone Fraga's) as the main cause of the current crises, some government officials at the energy minister want to foist that issue on us. Even before President Mills' visit to TOR a couple of days ago, rumours were rife about the complicity of the ministers of energy and some government officials in the never ending TOR saga. This needs looking into, because we are overly convinced there is a stage- managed move to pitch Fraga Oil & Co against the rest of the nation in the matter under consideration. Yes, in the midst of occasional fuel shortages, President Mills seemed to have allayed the fears of many that crude will come very soon insisting the NDC government has learnt its fuel lessons the hard way. Surely, Fraga Oil & Co a company that has acquitted itself fairly well over the years cannot be the lesson this government has learnt. For us therefore, Fraga Oil & Co perhaps the indebtedness of other OMCs, is not and cannot be the main issue in an inherited complex jigsaw at the Tema Oil refinery. We call on people within and without government, to halt all attempts to run down Fraga Oil & Co so that the real witches at TOR can be gunned down, for the benefit of mother Ghana.

That one of the biggest refineries in West Africa is smarting under the effects of a colossal debt is unthinkable. Under the leadership of Dr. K. K. Sarpong, on otherwise profitable entity accrued a debt of about $1.2 billion. This happened at a time when the then NPP government, charged, through and through, a TOR debt recovery levy to offset the around ($300m) debt allegedly left by the first NDC regime.

Our checks at the refinery reveal the highest levels of mismanagement and maladministration that existed during the tenure of Dr. K. K. Sarpong. For most of the workers who openly told us they voted for the NPP, Dr. Sarpong's incompetence that led to the accrual of the $1.2 billion debt is the reason the refinery has not been able to raise letters of credit until some few days back. Most striking, was the revelation that he supervised the debt accumulation process with glee and is walking around while the people of Ghana and the refinery suffer.

We are authoritatively informed that there is also an NPP clique at TOR that shouts “we want crude” while questioning the indifference the government has shown in dealing with Dr. K. K. Sarpong. While this mocks the government, many are wondering if this indifference confirms the “I scratch your back, you scratch my back” game allegedly going on between some members in government and the ex-TOR boss. Is the government by its action accentuating the negative acts by K. K. Sarpong and the NPP in the past? For regime that has shown unflinching resolve to fighting corruption and malfeasance, this ddilly-dallying towards K. K. Sarpong is shocking. In our view, the way this TOR issue is being handled may confirm the existence of vested interest at TOR currently. We think that this hanky-panky behaviour on the part of government is aimed at protecting K. K. Sarpong for those involved.

Against every conceivable odd, the NDC wrestled power from the NPP based on the party's time-tested tenants of probity, accountability and integrity. Particularly, in the on-going TOR saga, government must personify these principles. K. K. Sarpong should not go un-punished. This is an opportunity for the government to “right” all the wrongs that the NPP left behind.

ALFRED TRIDDLES

CO ORDINATOR
0244 665 023

Development / Ghana / Africa / Modernghana.com