The Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana has petitioned President John Mahama to ensure the passage of new laws to reduce Sulphur content in imported diesel from 3,000 parts per million (ppm) to 10 ppm.
COPEC-GH has also petitioned the Parliament of Ghana over the matter, urging it to ensure that fuel imported into Ghana meet global standards.
A three-year research by Swiss NGO, Public Eye, revealed that the importation of extremely harmful diesel into the country was on the rise.
The recent Public Eye report, which cited African nations like Senegal, Congo, Mali, Ghana, Angola, Cote D’ Ivoire, as being the most receivers of these dangerous fuel, said major European oil companies and commodity traders were exploiting Ghana’s particularly weak fuel standards to export the high-polluting fuels that they could never sell at the pumps in Europe.
Gian Valentino Viradez, Project Manager in-charge of Development Policy at Public Eye, who presented the report at a forum in Accra on Thursday September 15, said the practice had damaging effects.
According to him, these fuels contain “Nitrogen oxide, Sulphur dioxide and all kinds of pollutants that are known to be very bad for health.”
Mr Viradez added: “They cause chronic diseases and many other conditions such as lung cancer and this has to be taken seriously. We believe Africans have the right to know what they are consuming when they go to the pumps.
The African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), which assisted with the conduct of the research, said Swiss companies instrumental in the dirty deal.
According to ACEP, in some African countries, Swiss firms dealing in the dirty diesel constitute about 80 percent of the market.
In a presentation at COPEC-GH Council meeting on Thursday in Accra where the petitions were signed, Deputy Executive Director of ACEP, Benjamin Boakye, said very soon Ghana will get to a stage where the environment will not be safe because of air pollution.
On average, a car in Ghana will pollute about 200 times more than a car in Europe due to the high Sulphur content.
He said government has to strengthen the country’s regulation and ban the importation of these products.
He noted that the Swiss government should regulate their companies in the exportation of products.
COPEC-GH said the European Union (EU) has a moral duty to ensure that companies from Europe who engage in such acts are punished.
Recently, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NPA, Moses Asaga, was reported to have said that the country has 3,000ppm of Sulphur content in diesels on the market but in Europe the level permitted is 50 ppm.
According to COPEC-GH, engines of cars and other machinery in African countries are likely to break down 300 times faster than those in Europe.
The Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers- Ghana, Duncan Amoah, told journalists in Accra that the law that regulates the importation of fuel must be amended to save Ghanaians from air pollution.
He said, “We are petitioning the president because we think something ought to be done about it. We believe that the president is also interested in public safety. Issues of the environment concern industry.”
By Melvin Tarlue