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Opinions of Tuesday, 12 March 2013

Columnist: RonyBaah

The big TOR scandal

Revelations at Tema Oil Refinery this week have blossomed into a huge scandal encompassing the Ghana Government, the workers, contractors and the NDC Party.

According to the company’s documentsighted, the governments is scheming with management and is hiding from the general public secret transactions that are being carried out reaping Ghanaians of billions of dollars paving the way for the eventual privatization .

Current Events at Tema Oil Refinery Lest there be any doubt, working conditions at TOR has sent a panic message to a cross sections of its workers who only work for a paltry 20minutes a week but are entitled to shift allowances for the hours done, machines are operating less than a quarter of its capacity but are services at a cost of forty thousand dollars every quarter. On the 11thof March 2013, management of Tema Oil Refinery with the blessing of the President John Mahama is in the process of creating 40Managers at TOR, who will be entitled to the following benefits

- A 4x4 vehicle for each Manager ( 40 vehicles) - Free maintenance for those vehicles - A 3 bedroom house free for each one of the 40 managers

All this is happening at a time when other workers only come to work just for 20 minutes per week, this is because while there is no oil to refine or nothing to do, the government and its accomplices have made sure the workers will be on either garden leave or take a French leave, they absolutely do not work. There is a master plan to thisas this TOR saga is riddled with mafia personalities within and outside government bent on running the state owned company into the ground, paving the way for privatisations and government cronies having the first share of the booty.

Canyou imagine the anger of the workers as they are not made to work and then the sudden appearance of 40 managers?

One worker is reported to have asked what the 40 managers were coming to manage when even one manager had nothing to do.

However, they are peeved that these new managers have come in and are being given all these perks. These 40 managers are Campaign Managers for the NDC, just to make money for any election pending. They are aware that there could be a re-run of the elections in the disputed electoral areas and have started building a war chest.

This is also payback for their theft at the elections which I must be honest with you, was very smart and clever and they could have gotten away with it except that Nana Addo and others took it to court.

Worse, these 40 managers are each getting 80 gallons of fuel for their 4x4 for doing nothing, absolutely nothing.

Meanwhile, President Mahama's brother, who was responsible for the NIB collapse is at it again. As at the time of heading to press, this brother together with the sitting president have brought in people to buy TOR, under the assumption that the TOR is not making any money.This will be sold off so cheap to these "investors" while the President looks on. These are the same people who claim they are Social Democrats and have most in common with the Convention People's Party. They are selling off Ghana's crown jewels at an alarming rate.

Even worse, this money is heading to unknown destinations and not to the consolidated fund as should be the norm. We will never know the true value of how much this was sold for.The government has been mute on the toll it collects towards defraying the never ending TOR debt.They are cheating Ghanaians! Can someone please ask EK Buah and the President John Mahama whether the money collected for this debt will be refunded, ever?

This is daylight robbery, Ghanaians and we need to be very vigilant. The President is very neck deep in this. Why refine oil outside when some of our oil can be refined in Ghana?

God help Mother Ghana and rescue us from these looting brigades.

RonyBaah

ronybaah@yahoo.com

0206 291857