Following last week’s gas explosion at Atomic Junction that killed a total of seven people and injured about 132 people, major stakeholders in the oil and gas sector are asking the Energy Minister, Boakye Agayarko to sack officials they described as incompetent at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA).
According to them, the regulator, NPA which was established by an Act of Parliament and mandated to regulate the petroleum downstream industry in Ghana has failed in discharging it duties as mandated by law.
Speaking Monday on Adom FM’s Burning Issues programme hosted by Afia Pokua aftermath of the gas explosion, a Gas Technician, Samuel Kwaku Constant said the ministry needs competent hands to regulate and manage the affairs of the gas sector to ensure safety of the citizenry.
The Ministry of Energy should sack non-performing officials at the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) who regulates the sector” Samuel Constance stressed.
He added that the Inspections, Monitoring and Licensing department of NPA has woefully failed in their supervisory role and the minister must take a bold decision on the operations of the department.
“The department responsible in training and building the capacity of tanker drivers, gas and fuel stations is sleeping on the job” he fumes.
After the explosion, President Nana Addo Danquah Akufo-Addo ordered the implementation of interim safety measures for all Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) infrastructure across the country.
The nine safety measures were introduced after a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, October 12, 2017, and it follows fatal multiple explosions and fire at an LPG installation at Madina Atomic Junction in Accra.
As part of the new safety regulations, there is to be the deployment of a task force, within 30 days, to assess the risk that all LPG infrastructure nationwide pose in terms of public health and safety.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Gas Tanker Drivers Association, Shafiu Mohammed also called on the NPA and other regulators to roll out capacity building programs for tanker drivers and those in the downstream sector to avoid re-occurrence of such incidents.