The Member of Parliament for Dormaa East, Mr Paul Apraku Twum Barimah has commended President Nana Akufo-Addo and the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh for taking the initiative and the bold step to revive the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
He believes TOR is a strategic facility in the oil sector and therefore reviving it will boost the downstream petroleum sector in Ghana.
According to Mr Twum-Barimah government has taken the responsibility to pay the legacy debt of TOR and changed the entire management of TOR; a move which saw the MD and his deputy being relieved of their posts.
Speaking to journalists in Accra, Mr Twum-Barima said the move by the president of Ghana and the Minister of Energy will help bring sanity and calm at TOR and lead to the transformation needed to promote efficient production.
According to him, the energy minister is a man of action who has the political will to revive the operations of TOR with the support of President Akufo-Addo, urging Ghanaians to support them.
Energy Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has sworn a three-member Interim Management Committee (IMC) into office to oversee the affairs of TOR as part of efforts to restructure and revamp the refinery.
The Chairman of the IMC is Mr. Nobert Cormla-Djamposu Anku with Mr. William Ntim Boadu and Mr. Okyere Baffuor Sarpong as members.
The committee’s terms of reference include ensuring the smooth transfer from the outgone directors, undertake technical and human resource audits as well as receive and assess viable partnerships for TOR, if any.
Dr. Opoku Prempeh noted that the IMC was key “In order to give the President, the time to reconstitute the board, which will come very soon, and probably install a new management, there was the need for an IMC to be put in place for at least a period of three months. We hope they will be able to gather as much information as possible about TOR and on TOR all in furtherance of making it a viable functional entity going forward.”
The Minister also noted that TOR and its crippling debts, infrastructural issues and equipment have been well noted and that since the 4th Republic every President has thought about value addition to Ghana’s natural resources.
Strategic plans
Mr Twum Barimah said strategic and tactical plans must be drawn or initiated to guide TOR’s operations from the medium to the long term.
The development plan, he said, should include appointing a competent, well trained management expert as chief executive of the state firm with a target to turn its fortunes around from the short to medium term and supporting TOR to secure loans to purchase crude oil to refine.
