Don’t privatize Tema Oil Refinery – TUC

The Ghana Trade Unions Congress (GTUC) on Friday said privatization of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) will not be in the interest of majority of Ghanaians therefore the labour front will resist any attempt to privatize it.

TUC questioned why Ghana should stop domestic refining and import refined products now that the country is producing oil.

“As it is, TOR is suffering the fate that has befallen all important state assets – run it down in preparation for privatization,” TUC stated in a statement signed by Mr Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General, to the Ghana News Agency in Accra.

TUC described the attempt to denigrate TOR as a manifestation of corruption that has engulfed the petroleum industry and that there are many players in the petroleum industry who are profiting at the expense of ordinary Ghanaians.

The statement said the Petroleum Products Price Build-Up contains as many as six different margins designed to benefit a few owners of marketing companies and other players in the industry.

The TUC alleged that the lack of transparency in the petroleum industry is deliberately designed to facilitate corrupt practices of the few people in society who are well connected.

“We believe that some transparency in the petroleum sector will lighten the burden on Ghanaians and it should be considered as part of the measures to deal with the chaotic situation in which the petroleum industry finds itself,” the TUC stated.

Source: GNA