• He says the problems at the refinery over the years makes it a national liability
• TOR is a state-owned crude oil refining firm which was established 1963
Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD), Senyo Hosi, has backed calls for the privatisation of the Tema Oil Refinery.
According to him, the operational and managerial setbacks suffered by the refinery over the years making it ‘national liability’ which needs to be handed over to strategic partners.
Making his submission on Joy News on Monday, the CBOD boss called for the reconstitution of the management of TOR which will include private individuals who have the requisite competence and technical know-how to run the operations of the refinery.
“We have to take a strategic decision about privatising TOR because government is better off taking revenue out of taxes from a functioning TOR under a private sector hand, who has skin in the game,” Senyo Hosi said.
“The strategic matter that has bedevilled TOR all this while is a governance matter, that feeds into the management matter,” he added.
He further explained, “the strategic problem we have is not going to be solved by the appointment of a board. The IMC has been set up to actually make some necessary inquiries and hold the fort in turn, which is a very good decision,” he said.
Senyo Hosi highlighted that problems at the refinery must critically be looked and addressed by the right individuals in order to achieve results, as he believes, the current Interim Management Committee in place at TOR will not stay on for long.
“When new management inherits a culture, they may not be able to eliminate everything at a given point in time but should be able to spot them, take immediate action and recover, which the IMC has been able to execute within a very short period of time.
“The key thing here is that they [the IMC] are putting in systems to start identifying where the loopholes are. I don’t think the IMC is going to stay there for long – that is a fact. But the most important thing for TOR going forward is not just the appointment of an MD in another board, which would be a continuation of the problem,” he explained.
Meanwhile, TOR recently announced it has queried and interdicted a number of its staff pending the conclusion of investigations into the disappearance of fuel, product storage and transfer losses at the refinery.
The operations of TOR which is currently being run by an Interim Management Committee conducted a Technical and Human Resource audit which found that 105,000 litres of gas oil belonging to a Bulk Distribution Company client is reported missing.
In addition, the audit showed GH¢10.4 million worth of cables have been stolen from the state-owned company.
Senyo Hosi, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors