…accuse him of attempted collapse of TOR, GCB

JUST AS most Ghanaians have come to terms with the infamous Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) debts, Minister of Information, Hon. John Tia Akologu yesterday re-ignited the debate by saying an audit report revealed that monies meant to defray the outstanding liability were misapplied by former President John Agyekum Kufuor’s administration.

The Minister, who doubles as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Talensi West mentioned that “with so much careless abandon, the Kufuor administration and the NPP chose to collapse TOR and GCB, as they knowingly misapplied the funds they collected from you and I for paying off the TOR debt”. Earlier reports indicated the debt owed TOR by government was estimated at GH¢1.l4 billion, mainly due to under recovery.

Addressing journalists at the usual meet-the-press series in Accra yesterday, he added that “Today, thanks to an audit, we all know that these monies, instead of being used to pay off TOR’s debts were diverted and sadly misapplied by the Kufuor administration”. However, government paid a whopping GH¢450million recently as part payment of accrued debts owed the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) by TOR. As a result of the debts GCB was on the verge of collapse, Hon. John Tia Akologu said.

Continuing, he noted that $59million out of the $109million debt incurred via the importation of crude oil for the Volta River Authority (VRA) to generate electricity had been paid.

“We say, we are subsidizing, we make sure we pay, and when we are collecting levies intended for specific purposes as Parliamentary Acts dictate, we obey the law and refrain from diverting proceeds from such revenues into unbudgeted escapades like a so-called communication strategy, as audit reports have since revealed”, the Minister stated.

According to him, “these under-recoveries were the main reason for the shortages of petroleum products in the early parts of 2009. Also, because of the huge debts left by the previous government, TOR could not raise Letters of Credit (LCs) to purchase products from Oil Trading Companies”.

Government, he indicated, had gone a step further to guarantee prices for its people, citing Cabinet’s approval for the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) to commence the process towards establishing a Price Risk Management Committee (PRMC).

The move is aimed at cushioning the harsh and unpredictable nature of petroleum prices.

Touching on education, Hon. Akologu hinted that at the next session of Parliamentary proceedings, the Students Loan Trust Fund Bill, which has been approved by Cabinet would be laid before the House for onward deliberation. “This will ensure that teacher trainees and nursing trainees will now enjoy student loans”, he explained.

Furthermore, he said government had embarked on a programme to eliminate the quagmire of school pupils being taught under trees for lack of infrastructure. Six hundred of such schools under trees, he quickly added, were being replaced with new classroom blocks.

He said 150 Senior High Schools (SHS) in the country would benefit from the first phase of a GH¢45million classroom project, which starts this month of April while 120 others with infrastructural challenges would have dormitories constructed in their schools. The project is funded by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund). “In all, government expects to spend GH¢225million on this crush programme”, he pointed out.

Touching on security in the Northern region, Hon. Akologu indicated there would be no mercy for any person or group of persons whose aim is to foment trouble in the already volatile situation.

“There are sponsors of this conflict who sit in Accra and engage in shameless acts that exacerbate the situation. I have in my hand a T-shirt which was printed here in Accra and has the inscription; ‘Original Chiefs of Bawku”, he said.

For him, the sponsors of this negative campaign ought to have offered leadership roles in peace and mediation rather than choosing the path of perdition and incitement. “We want them to know their hands are dripping with blood. The security agencies are in the process of rounding up all these elements and we want to make it clear that there will be no mercy for such persons”.

On job creation, he mentioned that “the 200 newly registered companies with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre in2009 are expected to eventually create a total of about 18,789 jobs for Ghanaians”.