Vice President of IMANI-Africa Kofi Bentil is demanding the withdrawal of a planned sale of assets of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) by government.
There are reports that the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) is leasing the state-owned oil refinery to Torentco Asset Management (TAM) for six years.
Speaking on this on Midday Live on TV3 on Tuesday, June 20, Mr Bentil said the deal is wrong and does not give Ghana value for money.
“Our problem with this particular deal is that it is totally opaque,” he stressed.
“We have to go underground and find out all kinds of ways on the documentation and the deal is bad.
“We don’t know who the real directors are and our checks are showing that they are fronts for other people. It is unfortunate and we hope that is clarified.”
He confirmed seeing details of the agreement between the Authority and TAM.
“To put it in concise terms, we are happy with the divestment of Tema Oil Refinery but it must be transparent, the people who are interested in it must show their hand, show what they come with.
“We should check their bona fides. We should know how much money they are bringing and because of the lessons of PDS they have to have sufficient security, so that if anything doesn’t go well we don’t have to be in the situation of PDS that we have to claw back and at a loss.”
The private legal practitioner asked government to make any contract to divest the distressed Refinery “entirely transparent”.
Recently, Minister of Energy Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh lamented the operational losses recorded at TOR.
He recounted how over GH¢2.5 million could not be accounted for in crude oil sales he had worked hard to contract for the Refinery.
Already, there have been calls for the sale of TOR as experts have attributed the annual losses in revenue to mismanagement.
“The fundamental problem of TOR is management,” Executive Director of the African Center for Energy Policy (ACEP) Benjamin Boakye once stated on TV3.
“Across the timeline it’s been poorly managed by poorly selected political entities who go there to make money for themselves.”
Mr Bentil believes calls for the Refinery to be divested is welcome but warned that the process has to be transparent.
