BOST boss must step aside for investigations to commence – Minority

• Posted on July 1, 2017
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Minority in Parliament is demanding that the Energy Ministry let the boss of Bulk Oil Storage and Transport Company Limited (BOST) steps aside for investigations into the companies latest scandal to commence.

A member of Parliament’s Mines and Energy Committee, Edward Bawa said to get to the bottom of the issue, people must feel free to volunteer information without fearing any persecution.

He believes the continuous stay in office of Alfred Obeng Boateng will compromise the investigations as some workers with information will feel intimidated by his presence to speak  

Contributing to a discussion on Joy FM’s Ghana Connect programme Friday, he said the Energy Ministry also failed to give timelines for the investigative committee to finish its work and bring out its report.

Also participating in the discussion, Chief Executive of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumer, Duncan Amoah, bemoaned how politics has overshadowed the interest of the consumers.

He said the two main parties; National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP), are not doing Ghanaians any good with the entrenched positions they have taken.

Also connecting in the studio was the Vice Chairman of Ghana Private Road and Transport Union, Kwame Sarbah, who pleaded that authorities should ensure the right fuel is sold to their members.

He said spare parts prices keep increasing and it will be very costly for them if the wrong fuel which is purported to be in the system goes to damage members’ car engines.

The discussion follows public concern over the safety of fuel sold by BOST after it emerged the company sold off 12 million litres of contaminated fuel in 2016.

The concern comes after confirmation that five million litres of contaminated fuel was sold off by BOST to two unlicensed companies – Zup Oil and Movenpiina.

The fuel is reportedly useful for some ‘operational purposes’.

The off-spec products are used by the steel, garment, petro-chemical companies to run their machinery. It can also be used as mixture for asphalt and turpentine to prevent decay of wood.

Since the story broke last Tuesday, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) has moved in to assure the public that the contaminated product is not on the market.

Its checks show that a vast quantity has been kept at BOST.

One of the companies to have bought the unsafe fuel, Zup Oil, has said it has received 400,000 litres of the fuel after ordering two million litres. The NPA has sealed the tanks at Zup Oil depot in Tema.

-jnews