The Vice Chairman of the Association of LPG Marketers, Gabriel Kumi, has disclosed that the Association is not opposed to government’s roll out of the cylinder recirculation module.
According to him, the problem stems from the fact that there wasn’t enough clarity on the policies of the module.
His comments follow government’s approval for the roll out of the cylinder recirculation model. Cabinet’s approval will among other things cut by half the use of charcoal for domestic purposes.
“I think there is certain misconception I would want to clarify. We have not opposed the policy because of job losses. We don’t oppose the policies per se. Our concern was with the process of rolling out the policy. The process was not transparent enough and there was no clear cut plan [and] a transition plan to transition from the current system to the new system. Fortunately, today, we had a meeting with the Chief Executive of the NPA… and we have laid down our concerns”.
Gabriel Kumi
Despite the optimism, Mr Kumi expressed concerns over some inherent challenges in the roll out. He noted that for the past four years, they have been trying to “implement the policy”.
However, there’s nothing on the ground to show for it and also “a lot of resources and a lot of energy” have been “wasted” on this policy.
Challenges with the cylinder recirculation rollout module
Citing reasons for this, he explained that the situation is so because “we didn’t adopt the right approach”. As such, this is what “led to the resistance” of the module from the Association.
“So, this policy is not coming to introduce a new industry. This policy is only trying to adopt a new strategy to an existing industry, an existing industry which has been in existence… So, if you’re trying to apply a new strategy to it, all that you need to do is to be patient. Initially, we saw it as a green field, where we thought LPG has not been sold in Ghana before so let’s go ahead…”
Gabriel Kumi
He further noted that due process was not followed in the transition from the old system to the new. Additionally, Mr Kumi asserted that since 2014, “there’s nothing on the ground even though we’ve wasted a lot of resources”.
Nonetheless, he expressed confidence in the new National Petroleum Authority boss, Mustapha Hamid, in resolving the issues.
“It has to be introduced in a very gradual manner. The two system will have to run side by side before you can eventually fade out one. I mean that is what happens at the introduction of any new policy where there’s an existing system.
“Fortunately, Mustapha Hamid seems to be adopting the right approach to the policy. As I indicated, we had a very fruitful [discussion] with him today. From the indication that is coming, he’s likely to succeed in his attempt to introduce this policy”.
Gabriel Kumi
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Meanwhile, Energy Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, has charged the newly constituted governing board of the Ghana Cylinder Manufacturing Company (GCMC), to ensure scale-up of production of gas cylinders.
According to him, this is to help meet likely demands with the rolling out of the module.
“Ghana has been part of the sustainable development goal and the climate change agenda and there is the need to restore our environment and it is in this light that cabinet has approved the cylinder recirculation module to promote this work and ensure that 50 per cent of the country will use gas instead of charcoal.
“We do not want to flood the country with imported cylinders. We believe GCMC has the ability not only to supply cylinders to the country but even export to neighbouring countries”.
Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh
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