10 July 2009
editorial
Motorists in Accra woke up in the morning of Tuesday to realize that there was no Petrol at the fuel stations for them to buy for the day's activities. The news created panic among drivers and many were seen holding jerry cans and hopping from one filling station to the other in search of fuel.
Whilst the drama unfolded, the Tema Oil Refuinery (TOR), National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and the Ministry of Energy were churning out different explanations for the problem. The situation worsened on Wednesday, as there was virtually no petrol in town. The Chronicle is, however, happy that the problem is gradually easing, as there was enough supply of the commodity to the fuel stations yesterday.
Information we obtained from TOR at press time last night indicated that the deputy Minister of Energy, Dr. Kwabena Donkor went to the refinery at midnight on Wednesday and personally supervised the loading of the commodity to fuel tankers until 6am the next morning, for distribution to the various fuel stations in the Accra-Tema Metropolis. Some of the Ministers prefer to sit in the comfort of their offices and issue instructions, instead of going to the source of the problem and solving them.
Surely, if Dr. Donkor had stayed put in his office in Accra and issued out instructions about how to solve the fuel crisis, then maybe motorists would still be running around town in search of fuel, since no action would have been taken to resolve the problem. To us at The Chronicle, what the deputy Minister did deserves praise and we commend him for that. Yesterday, we used this same column to shower similar praises on the Chief Justice, Georgina Wood, who has been constantly responding to newspaper publications which portray problems in the judicial system, even without waiting for official complaints to her office.
We criticise government appointees when they go wrong, so it is only fair if we praise the same people when they do what is commendable. Whilst lauding the Minister' role, we also wish to draw his attention to the character of some of the people appointed as spokesmen and women for the various agencies under the Ministry.
When the crisis started on Tuesday, we called the Public Relations Manager at TOR, Mrs. Aba Lokko, several times on her phone, but she refused to answer our call. Surprising, when we called her boss, Dr. Kwame Ampofo, he quickly responded and explained the situation to us. We believe that if a Spokesperson behaves in such a way, it would be very difficult to disseminate government policies or information concerning TOR to the public.
Ghana has not experienced long queues at fuel stations for a long time now, as was experienced in the early part of this week, therefore, it is incumbent on those in charge of the sector to explain issues to the public. However, if the so called spokeswoman chooses to ignore the calls from the press, then one can wonder where this government is heading towards.
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