Adnan Adams Mohammed
Key stakeholders in the energy sector have given a strong swap at government’s statement that, it has sent delegation to United Arab Emirate to negotiate a cheap fuel deal for Ghana.
In past days the country experienced astronomic increase in fuel prices doubling the already hard economic conditions of the citizens. President Akufo-Addo in his latest address to the nation on the state of the economy revealed that his government is working to stabilise prices of petroleum products through new supply arrangements in a bid to tackle the high cost of living.
However, the former Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors, Senyo Hosi, has urged government to be modest about its promise to get affordable petroleum products to the Ghanaian market. According to him, the price of fuel is dependent on the stability of the currency and other macro-economic realities but not the location of the commodity is bought and therefore believes that the skyrocketing fuel prices will only decline with the appreciation of the cedi.
“So I’ll encourage government to be a bit more modest in the promises he gives to the public otherwise he will raise expectations that sometimes he just may not be able to sustain” Senyo Hosi cautioned. “So just manage your communication and expectations.”
He also asked government to engage industry players and the banks in any major decisions.
Consequently, the Executive Director of Institute of Energy Security, Nana Amoasi VII, has questioned the prudence in government’s efforts to obtain inexpensive fuel.
He believes the mission is far from possible. Explaining that, no international market would be willing to give out petroleum products at a cheap discount.
“I don’t know who is advising the Energy Minister, because the venture they are undertaking is far from possibility. This is not how the energy sector works, so they should be careful,” he said.
Nana Amoasi VII hoped that the quest to get cheap and reliable fuel is not an attempt to “waste the country’s meager resources or an attempt to enrich a few people to the detriment of over 30 million Ghanaians or a deliberate attempt to grow the energy sector debt.”
He noted that given the case that the team is successful in their quest, they should be made to declare the full discount value they are able to negotiate.
“They must tell Ghanaians what they also gave in return for that favour. And also, we must be very careful, our fear as IES is that they could be giving out something for free in order to get that discount.
“If there is a market that can give you a cheap discount to beat all the markets all over the world, I am sure the BDCs would have gone for it. So let us be careful of the venture that we are undertaking,” he cautioned.
In a related development, the Ranking Member on the Energy Committee in Parliament, John Jinapor has cautioned the government against its plans to secure cheaper petroleum products for the Ghanaian market.
He argued that nowhere across the globe, would the government obtain petroleum products at the much cheaper price and discounted margins it is looking for.
“In this petroleum industry, there is nothing like free lunch. They also have their challenges, but more specifically like I stated we are expecting some timelines from the President probably within one month or two months or three weeks or one week,” he noted.
