NDC & NPP Only Interested In Running Down -CPP

The Convention People¹s Party¹s shadow Minister for Energy, Kwame Jantua

says Ghana¹s main political parties, the ruling National Democratic Congress

and the opposition New Patriotic Party are only interested in running down

the Tema Oil Refinery, and selling it ³just like they have sold everything

built by the CPP government².

³Both the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party have no

interest in making sure that the Tema Oil Refinery stays, because where did

this TOR debt start from? Who was in power when the TOR debt started

accumulating? Those who came to power after, what did they say to us?² Kwame

Jantua threw these barrage of rhetoric to Emefa Apawu, host of the Big Bite

on Xfm 95.1, an Accra based radio when asked what the CPP make of the

infamous TOR debt.

Just recently, the prices of some petroleum products were reviewed upward to

raise money to retire the Tema Oil Refinery Debt and to prevent continuous

accumulation of the debts in order to alleviate its effects on the banking

system.

Last Friday, in his media interaction to mark the end of his second year in

office, President John Mills asked the opposition New Patriotic Party to

apologise to the people of Ghana for leaving the economy in what he

describes as a ³hard and parlous state².

According to the President, the outgoing NPP government in 2008 left a TOR

debt of about 1.5 billion cedis, and this has left his government with the

tasteless option of increasing petroleum prices.

The NPP has however disputed the debt figure and the two parties have since

been on a war path as to how much exactly the TOR debt is.

But the CPP¹s shadow Minister for Energy is convinced the two parties are up

in arms to rundown the state asset.

To him, both the NDC and NPP are not being truthful to Ghanaians as far as

the TOR debt is concerned and called on the two parties to open up to

Ghanaians on the exact amount of the debt and what is being done to off-set

it.

He therefore challenged the Mills-led government to be innovative in paying

the debt other than laying the blame at the door step of the opposition NPP

saying, ³governments are voted to rule on behalf of the people, and so if

there is a debt, be innovative enough to make sure that you close that

debt².

³Please, let¹s be truthful to the people of Ghana. Both the NPP and NDC have

not been truthful to us where the TOR debt is concerned, because, if they

had been truthful, we would not have this kind of debt that we have today².

Kwame Jantua says the government is wasting time debating the TOR debt when

the actual topic on the ground should be how to equip TOR to refine crude

oil from the Jubilee Oil Field. He warned that if care is not taken, the

government will sell crude from Ghana¹s oil field and buy cheap ones to be

refined by the refinery.

³Now we are producing oil, can we say that the facilities at TOR will be

able to produce fuel for Ghana today? They should rather be thinking ahead

and saying to themselves; this is the time for us to make sure how we can

expand the TOR to be able to produce our own oil, because, it could happen,

and it would happen. Story by Abena Asiedua Tenkorang/Xfm 95.1/Accra/Ghana