President Akufo-Addo
President Akufo-Addo says nothing will let him and his government go against the full implementation and enforcement of the new set of regulatory measures for handling Liquefied Petroleum Gas, issued by Cabinet Thursday evening.
The assurance was given after a meeting yesterday with the Ministerial Co-ordinating Committee he has set up to ensure the strict implementation and adherence of the regulatory measures, and depart from the era of non-compliance which has been the status quo in recent years.
The Ministerial Co-ordinating Committee, which is chaired by the Minister for Energy, Boakye Agyarko, comprises the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development; the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations and two Deputy Ministers for Energy.
It is to be supported by a Technical Implementation Committee chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Hassan Tampuli.
Other members of the Committee are the Chief Fire Officer of the National Fire Service; the CEO of Standards Authority; the CEO of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the Director of the Land Use and Spatial Development Authority and the Director of the Department of the Factories Inspectorate.
President Akufo-Addo therefore, gave the assurance that his government does not intend to follow the practice in recent years – where the political will to enforce measures protective of the citizenry had not been present.
“I do not intend to have that as a feature of my government. The people of Ghana are looking up to us to protect them. I want to emphasise that beyond the statement that was issued yesterday, there is a strong political will that something will be done about it. I have a clear mandate to change things in this country,” President Akufo-Addo pointed out.
To members of the Committee, President Akufo-Addo noted that the measures rolled out by his government “cannot work and will not work if those of you implementing it are not on board, dragging your feet or not adhering to its implementation.”
He urged them to co-operate and co-ordinate fully, and “get out of the practice I found, since coming into office, that the right hand and left hand don’t know what is going on in the same issue.”
On their part, members of the Committee assured the president of their determination to enforce fully the measures rolled out by government, to forestall the occurrence of any more gas explosions, and to co-ordinate effectively their actions.
The CEO of the NPA, Mr Hassan Tampuli, said with effect from Friday, October 13, 2017, his outfit had commenced the immediate inspection of all gas stations and the vigorous enforcement of existing regulations.
Additionally, his outfit had begun reviewing safety protocols and, from Monday, October 16, would begin the deployment of a taskforce to assess the risk that the current LPG infrastructure poses in terms of public health and safety.
So far, Mr Tampuli revealed, 21 high risk stations had been closed down, in accordance with the relevant law and without regard to any political or special interests.
The National Fire Service has since assured the president that a full report of the Atomic Junction gas explosion in Accra would be ready in two weeks’ time.
By Charles Takyi-Bopadu, Presidential Correspondent