TOR WORKERS CALL FOR ACTING MD's REMOVAL, DAILY GRAPHIC, SAT FEB 13, 10 (BACK PAGE)

WORKERS of the Tema Oil Refinery have called for the immediate removal of the Acting Managing Director, Dr Kwame Ampofo, Management and the entire Board of Directors on the grounds of incompetence.
The demand followed an emergency meeting held by the leadership of the workers unions in Tema on Thursday during which a programme dubbed, ‘Operation Save Tema Oil Refinery’, was launched.
Daily Graphic sources close to the union disclosed that, the MD and management failed to clear spare parts imported by the company from Europe for repair works on its plants leading to the subsequent auction of the parts by the Customs Excise and Preventive Service.
The parts according to the source were imported costing several millions of dollars for refurbishment works on the Crude Distillation Unit and the Residual Catalytic Cracker.
The two unions questioned why the parts which were imported into the country in April 2009 were not cleared and kept in a customs bonded warehouse owned by TOR and could be valued for by an assistant commissioner of CEPS who is stationed at the refinery each time TOR decides to use a particular part meant for maintenance.
The source added that, management’s inability to procure crude oil for production works has also seen the CDU and the RFCC being shut down for the past one week, leading to the lifting of finished products to serve the general public.
They also alleged that, the Ghana National Petroleum Authority’s (GNPC) parcels of crude oil through the government to government arrangement from neighboring Nigeria was also being diverted by the corporation to individuals in government.
When contacted on the telephone, Dr Ampofo admitted that the financial difficulties that the refinery was going through which had led to the refusal of financial institutions not granting letters of credit for the procurement of crude oil.
‘If we go ahead to clear the parts with the little resources at our disposal, it would mean, workers will be denied their monthly salary, that is why government has contracted a transaction advisor to restructure TOR’s finances as this shows the company is bankrupt’, he said.
On the shutting down of the two plants, Dr Ampofo denied that it was as a result of non-availability of crude oil.
According to him, they were in the middle of refining parcels of crude oil brought in by GNPC when the ‘work guard compressor' which is attached to the RFCC plant broke down.
The Chief Executive of GNPC, Nana Asafu-Adjaye on the other hand denied that the corporation was diverting crude oil meant for refining to top government officials.
He attributed the hoarding of the crude to the recent fire outbreak that occurred at the loading gantry, which he described as having a toll on the refinery’s delivery as trucks cannot readily load products.
‘I can assure you that no member of the board or for that matter the board chair, Mr Ato Ahwoi have diverted any petroleum product meant for the general public’s consumption as being alledged by the workers’, he remarked.