President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
A former worker of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Stephen Ashitey Adjei, has called on President Akufo-Addo to step in and scuttle moves by some people within the government to sell a gas terminal off the GPHA to themselves.
Describing the move as selfish, Mr. Ashitey Adjei, who is popularly called Moshake, said in a statement that the privatization would be tantamount to robbing the public interest to satisfy the private parochial interest.
“That gas terminal is a critical revenue generator for the GPHA and it is being managed well, what would make anybody want to sell it to themselves? The people behind this move are simply selfish and inordinately opportunistic,” Moshake said, calling on President Akufo-Addo to, “as a matter of urgency step his foot down and ensure that this move to shortchange the public interest is reversed.”
The GPHA gas terminal in question is located at the Takoradi Port. An ultra-modern Liquid Bulk Terminal (LBT), it is touted as the deepest drafted LBT along the West Coast of Africa.
Allegedly, those making the moves to privatize the terminal are within the government.
If successful, the terminal will be sold to that private individual, and GPHA, which has Takoradi as its second most important operation hub will lose a critical piece of its infrastructure in the whole of the Western Region.
Moshake who says he returned from a visit to Takoradi recently recounts that the move to privatize the terminal has angered the GPHA’s workers there because they see the move as one that will severely cripple the revenue muscle of the Authority. It has also been emerging that the Takoradi workers are mobilizing and will soon hit the streets over the move.
Moshake warned that if the move is allowed to succeed, it will be a blot on the record of President Akufo-Addo and his government.
“It will be no less bad than the privatization of the Ghana Primewood Limited by the Mahama government. It means, the Akufo-Addo government would be equalizing the Mahama government’s privatization of that Off-Dock Terminal that used to also belong to GPHA.
Now if all our governments come and sell critical infrastructure of the GPHA, how long will it be before we totally sell GPHA to private individuals? Moshake asked. After it was sold by the Mahama government, the Ghana Primewood Limited is now privately owned as Tacotel Limited. Create, loot and share has become the order of the day, in fact, some politicians only think of their pockets and have no shame,” Moshake added.