BOST CEO incurs wrath of unpaid staff over GHS1m Ghana@60 donation

The new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation (BOST), Alfred Obeng Boateng, has incurred the wrath of the local union of the Ghana Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union, after the workers heard he donated GHC1 million (One million Ghana cedis) to the Ghana@60 celebration at a time the strategic reserve holder is reportedly reeling under heavy financial challenges.

A union executive source who disclosed this to the paper on condition of anonymity, hinted that the company's mandate of fuel security is under serious threat with the continuous upward adjustments of fuel prices which should have caught the attention of the new managing director rather than plundering the company’s resources for political patronage.

Mr Obeng Boateng, the MD of publishing firm, Approachers’ Series, was appointed as the new CEO of BOST by President Akufo-Addo in January this year.

His appointment was one of the first to be announced by President Akufo-Addo and, since then, insider sources quote figures from the company’s accounts indicating BOST currently owes fuel suppliers about US$100m (one hundred million dollars) and it is struggling to pay workers’ salaries, not to talk of paying workers’ performance bonuses.

BOST, under the administration of the immediate-past MD, Mr Kingsley Kwame Awuah-Darko, joined the downstream petroleum industry in 2015 by competing with the private sector companies in the distribution of finished petroleum products.

The company gained a half-year profit of US$21 million for 2015 under this arrangement but the expectation that joining the downstream business will make the strategic reserve holder profitable is currently turning sour as trading losses have negatively affected its overall profitability.