Tension is mounting steadily on daily basis at both the Accra Plains and Kumasi depots of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation company (BOST) over the reluctance of the Energy Ministry to release a committee report which is thought to have indicted some officials at the depots.
Mr. Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, Minister of Energy and Petroleum on Monday 17th June, 2013, set up a Committee of Inquiry (COL) to investigate allegations of impropriety at both depots but the whereabouts of the report is unknown.
During the inauguration of the committee, the Energy Minister disclosed that “the move had become necessary following the incessant allegations of irregularities at the afore-mentioned depots and to ensure optimum efficiency in the transportation of fuel products” and therefore charged them to submit its recommendations to him within two weeks from the first day of sitting.
The Committee was chaired by Mrs. Clothilde Akosua Agbenorto of the National Petroleum Authority and had Ms Dorothy Afriyie Ansah of the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General Department, Mr Kweku Agyemang Duah of Oil Marketing Companies and Mr Nii Lante Blankson of the Bureau of National Investigations as members. The others were Mr Erasmus Asamoah, Mr Andrews Owusu Berfi, Mr Ignatius Doe and Mr Kwame Boan Siriboe.
The Committee was among others, charged to go into the conditions of Service of BOST, scrutinize the curriculum vitaes of both Bagnaba Van Gogh, Accra Depot Manager and one Nicholas Samari. It was also to do analysis of Waybills from 1st October, 2012 to 31st May, 2013 at both depots as well as analysis of Claims Forms for Transporters from 1st October, 2012 to 31st May, 2013 for both Accra Plains and Kumasi Depots.
Tongues have started wagging with some senior staff threatening to go on demonstration if the report was not released immediately by the Ministry. “We have been reliably informed that the Committee has submitted its report to the Minister but what is preventing him from releasing it is a mystery to us”, one of the workers told The New Crusading GUIDE last week.
According to our source at BOST, the very things the Committee was charged to investigate were still ongoing which had culminated in huge loses by BOST.
BOST was incorporated in 1993 as a private Limited Liability Company with the Government of Ghana as the sole shareholder and has the mandate to develop a network of storage tanks, pipelines and other bulk transportation infrastructure throughout the country and to keep Strategic Reserve Stocks for Ghana.
It has been given an additional mandate as the Natural Gas Transmission Utility (NGTU) to develop the Natural Gas infrastructure throughout the country.
Unfortunately, the core mandate to keep strategic reserve stock of fuel has been relegated to the background as there are reports that there is not a drop of oil in the reserve tanks nationwide. For some unexplained reasons, BOST is interested in transporting oil instead of replenishing the stock.
All attempts to reach the Energy Minister for an update on the report proved futile as he did not respond to our numerous calls and a text message.
Meanwhile, another controversy is brewing over the purchase of some flow meters.
Stay tuned as we bring you more revelations on some dealings at BOST in our subsequent publications.
Source: Gordon Asare-Bediako/New Crusading Guide/Ghana
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