Public administrator faults gov't over TOR woes

A renowned public administrator, Kwame Nuako has launched a blistering attack on government which he said should be blamed for the current operation difficulties of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).

The latest attack on the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government is coming on the heels of discussions centered on a possible privatization of the nation’s refinery.

According to him, more could be done to forestall the managerial incompetence that had characterized the state enterprise.

Mr. Nuako said apart from one chartered accountant on the board of directors, the other members cannot be said to have any financial management acumen or knowledge in petroleum issues, yet they are responsible for policy direction of the company.

In an interaction with the media in Kumasi over the weekend, Mr Nuako, who is also a business executive, noted that a company directed by a tailor, fuel station operator as well as an ex-police officer with support from a non-practicing chartered accountant cannot do well in the competitive business environment.

Kwame Nuako intimated that many people towing the line of the ruling party had been promoted to various managerial positions at TOR, thereby creating duplication of work and chaos in the state-run company.

“The company is not being allowed by government to work at full capacity with the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC) likely to bring in about US$300,000 a day lying idle for over one year, as work is offloaded to the Bulk Distribution Companies,” he disclosed.

In his view, this should not be the reason for government to privatize the state enterprise as reforms and revitalization ought to be the priority of the managers of the country.

Mr. Nuako explained that “clearly, organizational performance is more a function of the structure and processes of resource allocation than of mere ownership,” the public administrator told the media.

He could not fathom why National Petroleum Authority (NPA) sets the price of products and services of TOR without recourse to the company after it worked on the processes leading to the final products.

“Does this make sense, you produce and somebody else fixes your selling price without your full input at all in the name of deregulation. Will this enhance efficiency or high performance?” he quizzed.

Nuako said government should scrutinize the operations of TOR in order to help clear the dark clouds over the privatization proposal.

According to him, privatization might be altering administration worldwide but it does not necessarily alter citizens’ concerns that responsiveness, equity, propriety and accountability should be upheld in the process.

What is important though is for government to work at correcting the impression that even where there are benefits it is the private foreign investor or the economic and political elites that benefit, he stated.

To him, Ghana must look at how to refute the perception that business elites and influential politicians in society benefit at the expense of the poor.

Mr. Nuako spoke against the privatization of TOR and called for improvement in governance as the first step in tackling the company’s challenges.