Tema Oil Refinery in crisis

The Ghanaian Voice has gathered that the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) can not operate its new plant which was scheduled for commissioning by his excellency the President, Mr J.A. Kufuor on 24 May 2002. This is because the refinery lacks enough steam to start and sustain the 14,000-capacity plant.

The new plant was constructed by a Korean Contractor who took over from a local contractor who had undertaken the feasibility studies. Unfortunately, that study of the local contractor was set aside and after the completion of the new plant the Koreans realised that they had forgotten to construct a feedstock that was supposed to be used to store steam to feed the new plant.

According to sources, this demonstration of gross inefficiency at the refinery is as a result of internal bickering which is making some people to exploit the situation. Further investigations also revealed that there are some in the senior management team who have vowed to make it impossible for the Refinery to operate effectively so that they can always have their way.

According to the paper?s sources, because of entrenched positions taken by some senior members, when the New Board of Directors assumed office and decided to bring into force a new purchasing strategy, these senior management in connivance with the local union leaders wrote to the Board calling for the old system to be brought back because the new strategy is too bureaucratic.

But the Ghanaian Voice can state with authority that the new purchasing strategy is aimed at averting the recurrence of the Mambas gas saga, which it (the paper) uncovered and reported in its 21-24 February 2002 edition of the paper. However, these senior workers sensing that such a new policy would cut down or stop entirely the system where they used to award contracts to themselves decided to fight the new plan using the workers union.

It is even on record that the union wrote to the new Board to revert to the old purchasing strategy, but the Board ignored them. When the Voice contacted the union leader and his vice, Messrs Mprem and Fugah respectively, they denied ever meeting the Board on such an issue. Effort to get confirmation from the Administrative Manager proved futile as the paper was always told that he was at some crisis meeting.

Meanwhile, some junior workers who spoke to the Voice on conditions of anonymity expressed disgust about what was happening at the refinery. They were particularly, worried that history is not far from being repeated because some 10 years ago a similar agitation from the junior workers saw that government laying of all the junior workers and replacing them with the military who assisted the senior workers to operate the Refinery. So, ?Diamond City? whither are you drifting?