Business News of Wednesday, 20 December 2017
Source: www.ghanaweb.com
2017-12-20
Gabriel Kumi, Vice Chairman LPG Marketers Association
The Liquified Petroleum Gas Marketers Association has agreed to cancel a strike action it had earlier threatened to undertake if government does not consider the various concerns raise by members ahead of the implementation of the LPG recirculation policy.
Following a meeting with the Energy Ministry and other stakeholders, it was agreed that the concerns of the association would be addressed by the LPG Recirculation Policy Implementation Committee.
The association among other things have expressed their dissatisfaction with the plans to convert them to LPG distribution centres, asking the ministry to redefine their role.
They also want the ministry to reconsider the timing for the role out of the policy as the one-year period given is too short.
According to Deputy Minister for Energy in-charge of petroleum, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, the implementation committee will carefully consider all the concerns the association have raised.
He said, “We have considered that these demands they are making are not beyond us because government wants to implement this policy in a way that is satisfactory to all of us… but at the same time the ministry recognises the fact that we are limited when it comes to the implementation because the regulator that is independent of the ministry has been given the responsibility by law to implement such policies.”
He said the committee will make the necessary recommendations to government who will respond appropriately to ensure that there is a smooth implementation of the new policy.
In a short press briefing after the closed-door meeting, Dr Amin Adam assured the LPG marketers that the NPP government will not put them out of business.
“If we fail to address these concerns that will mean taking them out of business and as you know it is not the intention of the NPP government people out of business… we want existing businesses to grow so they can make more money and pay more taxes to the state, so they can create more jobs for the unemployed in our country,” he noted.
He stressed that the government’s decision to implement the policy is for the good of the entire nation as it would end the numerous gas explosions which have already claimed so many lives in the country.
Vice chair of the association, Gabriel Kumi assured that Ghanaians will enjoy the festive period in full as there will not be shortage of LPG during the period.
He said members of the association lose money anytime they embark on strike actions and so they were happy government had agreed to consider the various concerns they had raised.
