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Cameroon: SCDP, Sonara GMS Trade Accusations Over Fuel Scarcity
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The Post (Buea)
10 April 2008
Posted to the web 10 April 2008
Joe Dinga Pefok
Buea
The General Manager of the state-owned national petroleum distribution company, SDCP, Jean Baptiste Nguini Effa, and his counterpart of the national oil refinery, SONARA, Charles Metouck, last week apportioned blame for the fuel scarcity which hit Douala on Wednesday, April 2 and Thursday 3.
In the afternoon of April 2, there were long queues at filling stations in Douala that still had some fuel. At some filling stations, security officers were forced to intervene to restore order. Some motorists were forced to park their vehicles for lack of fuel.
The real cause of the fuel shortage was not immediately known as officials at SCDP maintained sealed lips. However, later in the evening, a communiqué reportedly issued by the General Manager of SCDP, Nguini Effa, who was out of the country, did not help matters since Nguini referred to the fuel shortage as a rumour.
Meanwhile, the SCDP boss in the communiqué stated that the company had security stock of fuel at its depots, enough to serve the public until SONARA resumed operations on April 4 after its technical break.
The Post garnered that SCDP actually ran short of the ordinary stock of fuel that had been estimated to supply the Douala market within a period of time. It is not certain as to why the shortage occurred, though some SCDP sources attributed it to a big increase in demand in the local market.
Some observers, however, suspected that there might have been some racketeering with part of the security stock. Whatever the case, The Post learned that following the unexpected fuel shortage, SCDP had contacted the government for authorisation to supply Douala with the security stock of fuel at its Douala depots. The security stock is said to be especially reserved for government use, especially in cases of emergency.
Panic At SCDP
Meanwhile, SCDP senior officials were visibly in a state of panic over the fuel shortage, especially as tension was rising in town with another prospect for a strike. Seemingly, in the heat of the panic, SCDP General Manager in league with his close collaborators desperately tried to shift culpability for the fuel shortage to other quarters.
At one point, a rumour which apparently was the handiwork of SCDP agents started making rounds that the fuel scarcity was as a result of a strike action by proprietors and drivers of fuel tankers.
But the Nkongsamba-based National President of Transporters of Heavy Duty Vehicles, El Hadj Oumarou, rushed to Douala on April 3 to refute the story.He hastily organised a press briefing and denied the allegation about a strike. He insisted that not only was the allegation false, but also that no member of his association was thinking of such a thing.
Metouck Fires Back
The General Manager of SONARA, Charles Metouck, did not condone the insinuation his colleague of SCDP made in his April 2 communiqué, linking the fuel shortage to the technical break of SONARA.
In a swift reaction on April 3, Metouck stated that contrary to the SCDP boss' that SONARA had to resume operations on April 4 after its technical beak, the company had in fact fully resumed operations on March 31.
He also insisted that by the time the fuel shortage occurred, SONARA had no technical problem whatsoever. As for the technical break which SONARA had from February 10-28 for the maintenance of its machines and the cleaning of its pipelines, Metouck was bitter that it should be presented by SCDP. He explained that the annual technical break is a normal exercise not only at SONARA, but is an operation carried out at all refineries across the world.
He as well noted that the management of SONARA always informed all appropriate authorities well on time, before the annual temporary stoppage for maintenance work.
The General Manager of SONARA further noted that the company takes all necessary dispositions to ensure that there is still a supply of fuel to SCDP, during the break.
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He said by March 25, the stock of petrol (super) at the SCDP depot in Douala stood at 23,673 tons. That aside, the SONARA boss asserted that the fuel shortage would not have occurred if SCDP management had acted responsibly, by SCDP rapidly embarking on laid down procedures as contained in the official regulation, for the company to obtain authorisation to sell the security stock of fuel.
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