The Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Hassan Tampuli, has refuted claims that the cylinder recirculation program which was birth in 2012 is a fiasco, explaining that piloting of the program has been completed in Kade, Akwatia, Fomena, Obuasi and Yendi while, piloting in Hohoe and Anloga would kick-start soon.
Speaking in an interview, the NPA boss assured workers and persons who are of the view that jobs would be lost when the program starts that, the cylinder recirculation program will fulcrum around workers of the LPG.
“What we are going to do is that, the cylinder will no longer belong to you. The LPG marketing company would procure, brand, own and maintain the cylinder. So, all that consumers need to do is, to go to a retail outlet or exchange point, then you will give them your details and they give you a full cylinder, you carry home; its branded.”
Mr. Tampuli elucidated that six companies including Ghana Oil (GOIL) has been licensed to operate the cylinder recirculation program and a few companies are pending for licensing processes, alluding that the cylinder recirculation policy is not a new initiative in the West African sub region.
“Just by way of information, I think that in the whole West African sub region, when you go, they do cylinder recirculation; when you go to Burkina Faso they do, when you go to Cote d’ivoire, Benin, Serra Leone, except Ghana and Nigeria.”
In his submission, he noted that the delay of the program is partly due to hesitation and fear in the LPG marketing companies, though they are in full support of the policy. He, however, pledged that cylinder recirculation will begin as soon as the license is granted.
The NPA boss has intimated that the state no longer has full control over the NPA. Stating that, “there has been a progressive removal of state as far as the retail of petroleum products is concerned and the storage. So, we have moved from commodity deregulation to price deregulation.”
He, however noted that, the state still lingered around, having interest in the price of the petroleum products which allowed them to subsidize the price of the products bearing instances where the states defaulted in paying those subsides due to competing interest from other sectors of the economy. This challenge led to the collapse of some institutions, and propelled the NPA to have a full roll-out of price deregulation in July 2015. “Now, the state does not get involved in anything except the state decides to take shares in any of the private companies,” he added.
Addressing illegalities in the petroleum sector, Mr. Hassan Tampuli stated that a fuel tanker with a Ghana registration cannot cross the Ghanaian boarder, noting that a fuel tanker from another country can get into the country only if it has gone through all the necessary processes.
In furtherance, Mr. Hassan Tampuli posited that, a tracking system called the Electronic Tracking Cargo system is fixed on vehicles that load from various depots to the retail outlets to monitor and track movements of the vehicles.
He further stressed that the cabinet directives on the ban on granting of construction permit of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) stations across the country still stands, until cabinet vacates the directives.
Moving away from the issues surrounding the petroleum industry, the NPA boss who doubles as a New Patriotic Party’s parliamentary candidate for Gushegu, Hassan Tampuli refuted claims that he masterminded the withdrawal of Dr. Ziblim Iddi from the NPP primaries.
It would be recalled that the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gushegu, Dr. Iddi who is also a deputy Minister for Tourism in a letter dated June 4, 2020, stated that he was pulling out of the NPP’s parliamentary primaries having arrived at that painful decision after broader consultation and deep introspection.
Mr. Hassan Tampuli was subsequently named as the party’s parliamentary candidate for the constituency. Observers of the political space pointed accusing fingers at Mr. Tampuli over Dr. Iddi’s withdrawal from the race.
In a quick rebuttal, Mr. Tampuli argued that “I think that it will be preposterous for people to take that position.”
“Things would have taken their natural course but, for the fact that we were hit with a pandemic and then the National Executive committee and the National Council didn’t meet. The party decided that, we are better off having a contest where a candidate will emerge from the contest and everybody, including the losing candidate, would support the winning candidate.”
In his partying shot, Mr. Tampuli alluded that he supported the Member of Parliament in every way he could.
