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Opinions of Sunday, 29 June 2014

Columnist: The Informer

Comment: Whose interest does NPA serve helping create fuel shortage?

Efforts at alleviating the long-suffering of the Ghanaian masses seem nowhere near their realization.

Ghanaians, especially, urban dwelling commuters, suffered a jittery Wednesday as a result of a sudden fuel shortage believed to have been slyly created by the nation’s insatiable oil market players.

When it was alleged that the Bulk Oil Storage and Transport (BOST) was having enough fuel to feed the nation’s machinery, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) restrained it from distribution. The NPA 20%, however, remains intact on oil imports into the country as government pays over 1.5 billion dollars for the commodity.

Operations of the oil market players therefore need to be checked by their supervising authorities, if any; because their activities, by attitude and behavior, are not one bit in the interest of the people of Ghana and also far from the interest of the government’s trust.

But how do we reconcile this as a nation? The NPA allegedly rented and is paying a whopping rent of 63 million dollars per month, and it is likely this gigantic amount is being surcharged on the poor good people of Ghana, who are already struggling to make their ends meet.

That is not all; the cross-country and other assorted vehicles, the mansions and hefty emoluments of NPA officials are all contributing scandalously to the Ghanaian suffering; as oil and energy, arguably, is becoming the Ghanaian blood by significance, which Ghana petroleum people suck by day.

The Informer suggests that Ghanaians should not narrow their mind on the effect of the ripples caused by the institutional fuel hoarding on road transport only. It also affects agriculture which is the root and very nerve centre of the nation.

The artificial fuel shortage affects the fisherman who depend on premix fuel to be able to bring nutrition to the meal table, as it affects the field farmer; the haulage and all.

The question this paper would want to ask is therefore; whose interest is the National Petroleum Authority serving? Is it the government of Ghana; the people of Ghana; a wealth scavenger somewhere, or that of their good selves?

The Informer is reiterating that the appointing authorities should not sit down unconcerned while people suffer in the hands of the appointed compatriots, whose operations present no tangible solution to the myriad of problems hounding the people by day, but rather end up compounding those problems.

The paper believes that the Ghanaian world is sturdily growing dangerous, not because of those who do harm, but because of those who look at the harm done without doing anything about it.