Tema-Ghana, April 20, CDA Consult – Workforces of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the country’s largest oil refinery, are planning to confront the Board of Directors and the Minister of Energy about the facility’s dire state, and have urged management to back their efforts to revitalize the plant.
As part of their campaign, the workers have planned a series of proactive labor-empowered initiatives targeted at rebuilding the TOR for the benefit of the state and putting a stop to anyone working for political or personal gain to destroy the national oil refinery.
Excessive political intervention, according to the workers, is a key hindrance to the effort to rebuild TOR: “political actors work towards a political goal, not an industry target, thus defeating the purpose of TOR.”
“Most of these political appointees were very competent on paper and in their previous practices, but when you assume a political position, it’s about your political interests, and you must serve all those who helped you climb to that position; by doing so, due process is sacrificed.”
Mr. Anthony Koomson, Chairman of the TOR Senior Staff Union, has urged the government to act quickly to retool and rebuild it so that it can operate at full capacity, adding that when TOR operates, all Ghanaians and the economy gain.
Speaking at a “Red Staff Durbar,” Mr. Koomson argued that if the issue is one of competent management, the government must appoint the right people rather than exploiting the job to reward party members.
“TOR has had very competent management in the past that turned things around in the refinery; therefore, it was possible to revamp it with competent leadership,” he said.
“They start out well, but as time goes on, they start making purely business decisions based on political considerations,” he explained, explaining why most management teams fail. This has been TOR’s Achilles’ heel; the dynamics must evolve.”
Workers would picket at the Jubilee House as part of the aggressive labor-empowered measures to convey their desire for the refinery to be refurbished.
With the help of Organized Labour, TOR workers would picket the Ministry of Energy and other crucial locations.
Mr. Bernard Owusu, National Chairman of the General Transport Petroleum Chemical Workers Union (GTPCWU), who has backed the staff, has announced that the strikes will take place before the May Day celebrations.
Mr. Owusu raised worry that the refinery, which has the best engineers in the sub-region and a capacity of 45,000 barrels per day, was just delivering finished products rather than carrying out its primary function of refining oil.
He questioned why Ghana had crude oil but TOR couldn’t get it to refine it, claiming that virtually all of Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah,’s firms had failed.
He stated that the personnel of TOR will not let this happen to the refinery.
He reminded the government that if TOR was fully operational, it would supply the country with 50 percent of its total domestic consumption, 100 percent of residual fuel oil (RFO) for industrial operations, 20 percent to 25 percent of LPG consumption, and 100 percent of Aviation Turbine Kerosene (ATK).
According to the GTPCWU’s National Chairman, Ghana requires around $4.8 billion in petroleum imports per year on average.
He went on to suggest that once TOR began generating, the cash needed for petroleum product imports will be cut in half.
Other benefits, he claimed, included lower local ex-pump costs as a result of the elimination of some import tariffs, such as the freight rate of approximately $92/Mt for petrol, $101/Mt for diesel and $83/Mt for LPG.
Because these transactions were priced in cedis, returning TOR to full capacity will lower borrowing costs, he said.
Given Ghana’s current financial troubles and debt restructuring process, the Union emphasized that large benefits from TOR’s work should be emphasized on the national agenda.
“Unless the country’s managers have lost faith in those they appointed to manage the TOR facility, the state is responsible for determining who constitutes the Board of Directors and the MD of TOR.”
“Therefore, all past and current operational anomalies and challenges must be borne by the appointing authority of these key critical office holders, knowing very well that all operational controls are a function of management,” he added.
