The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers, COPEC, is calling for appointments to the boards of petroleum and oil-related sectors to be hastened up.

According to the Chamber, the role of these institutions in the management of the sector cannot be underestimated hence the advice.

The various boards and corporations were earlier dissolved in accordance with the country’s presidential transition laws.

Speaking to Citi Business News, Executive Secretary of COPEC, Duncan Amoah stated that the delay in the appointment will not be in the best interest of government and consumers in general.
“The appointing authorities should step up the process to ensure that these institutions that are currently on autopilot do not fail. Those who are going home should be made to go home; those who are coming in should be made to come. We’ve also requested for quality appointment to the energy sector institutions to ensure that, the kind of lapses we’ve seen in the past, we do not see them anymore. Once we wait, we would want to impress on authorities to hasten the process because people are still buying fuel. BOST will still continue to work, TOR will continue to work, Ghana Gas will continue to work, Ghana Cylinder will continue to work but as to whether any boards are in place to oversee some of the operational issues, that remains largely at the bosom of the appointing authorities, and we would want that process hastened so that we will get the right kind of appointments to these places.”

The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers (COPEC) had earlier called on the government to ensure that only persons with requisite knowledge and expertise are assigned to manage the various energy sector institutions.

Duncan Amoah, stressed that based on precedence in the management of energy entities, deliberate efforts have to be made to ensure these entities are functional and profitable.

“Your energy institutions contribute either positively or negatively to your economic life. Once you have leadership that is mindful of numbers and are willing to take economic decisions, the energy establishments are safe. If you put in leaderships that are also there to take political-reign-seeking decisions that only allows them to enrich a few people at the expense of the Ghanaian people, we will continue to have the kind of misalignment and problems that we have in the energy sector. We are hoping that the government will make it a priority to appoint performers whose only basis for an appointment is on competence. And then again, it shouldn’t become business as usual; square pegs in round holes.”

Presently the vetting of ministers is currently ongoing. It is not clear when the list of board members of the various government agencies will be made public.