Politicians love spending money on their campaigns more than investing in TOR – COPEC

The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC), Duncan Amoah, has chided political leaders in Ghana over their focus on investing huge sums of money into their campaigns rather than revamping the collapsing Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

"After voting for them for the four-year term, the politician will say the next election is approaching and I have to find money to prosecute the next election campaign. That is the beginning of our problem," Duncan Amoah lamented.

According to him, since the politicians only have the 'next election' in mind, they don't think of fixing TOR but rather focus on the next elections.

"What sort of people are we?" Duncan Amoah wondered.

The Executive Secretary of COPEC also revealed that the four-year term might also be too short for the government to make a long-term policy in revamping TOR.

"I think that four years of democracy is not helping, and it won't help us," he said.

He argued that fixing TOR alone will fix a huge part of the economy that the country cannot buy or pay for with money.

"It also gives you fuel security you are seeking and also fixes the country's exchange differential," he told Kwame Tanko in an interview with Angel FM Kumasi monitored by MyNewsGH.com.

He alleged that politicians have a bigger interest in the collapsed Tema Oil Refinery to enrich themselves than in its survival and operation.

Dancun Amoah also chided TOR workers, saying they must also be blamed for their long silence on the matter. He accused them of taking salaries they had not worked for during the period they were inactive at the facility.

Workers at Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) gave notice of their intention to embark on a series of actions, including picketing at the Jubilee House, the premises of the Ministry of Energy, and other strategic locations to support their call for the revamping of the refinery.

Ghana imports nearly $4.8 billion in petroleum products annually.