Premix fuel diversion being checked

Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Energy on Thursday told Parliament that there was a monitoring system to check how supply of pre-mix fuel reached its final destination and was sold to fishermen to avoid diversion.

He said there was a monitoring secretariat that has employed officers who checked the pre-mix fuel delivery invoices against products supplied from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

Answering a question which stood in the name of Mr Samuel Johnfiah, (NPP Ahanta West) as to whether the Ministry of Energy was aware of frequent reported cases of pre-mix fuel diversions, the Minister said coupons were used for the retail of the product and records kept by the monitoring officers who visited the outlets regularly to check and reconcile the records.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said; "From past experience, the price differential between the premix fuel and the normal gasoline has created an incentive for diversion of the premix fuel.

"Premix fuel was diverted to fuel stations to be mixed with gasoline and sold at the prevailing price of gasoline to the public."

He said there were regional co-ordinating committees on premix fuel who oversaw premix fuel issues and in some instances the committee was under chairmanship or his deputy.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said at the local premix committees, which the chief fishermen chaired and where there was no regional co-ordinating committee like in the Afram Plains the District Chief Executive saw to premix issues.

He said over the past two years there had been reported cases of the diversion of the commodity at Otuam, Kokobo near Sekondi and Akwidaa all in the Western Region and Nungua in the Greater Accra Region.

The Minister said the cases are in the hands of the police and some were in court.

He said the concern of the government was the light punishment given to offenders and that there was the intention to liase with the Attorney General to ensure that the court applied the appropriate punishment to those prosecuted.