General News of Thursday, 1 April 2021

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Gushegu MP, Hassan Tampuli still runs NPA - COPEC raises alarm

Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Hassan Tampuli Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Hassan Tampuli

Executive Secretary for the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, Mr. Duncan Amoah, has lambasted the Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr. Hassan Tampuli, for still holding on to his position despite his new status as a Member of Parliament.

This is in reaction to some recent official documents from the NPA which have been signed by Tampuli, despite being a sitting MP.

Close sources and reports have alleged that Mr. Tampuli who won the seat for Gushegu Constituency in the 2020 December general elections still appends his signature to documents and acts in full capacity as NPA boss.

Reacting to this state of affairs, the COPEC boss has called for the immediate rectification of the ongoing development.

According to him, Mr Hassan Tampuli’s act of parading himself as a public sector CEO is unlawful per the Public Governance Conventions which states that an individual must give up any state appointment after being elected as an MP or given any ministerial appointment.

“We have cited official communications from the National Petroleum Authority signed by the MP for Gushegu, Hassan Tampuli. The CEO just got to parliament and it is our expectation that he would have made way for the authority to work fully without having to depend on his signature," He exclusively told GhanaWeb

“If you look at the public governance conventions and laws, there are good reasons why MPs are not made CEOs of state-owned establishments because of the issue of double salaries, conflicts of interests. We are asking the appointing authority to ensure that these anomalies are immediately rectified. The NPA should also be given a substantive CEO who will not be saddled with conflict of interest situations just like in the case of Hassan Tampuli. His actions do not augur well for good cooperate governance and it’s also a very dangerous precedent,” he added.

Until his election as an MP, Mr. Hassan Tampuli had served as the C.E.O of the National Petroleum Authority since 2017.

Listen to the audio below: