Ghana lost GHc1.4 billion to tax evasion in 2019 by players in the downstream oil industry, Lawrence Apalsee, Chief Director at the Energy Ministry, has said.
He blamed that on several reasons including the lackadaisical approach by authorities in being bold to crack the whip on offenders and prosecuting defaulters.
Mr Lawrence Apalsee said this at Kpong, where he stood in for the Minister for Energy, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, at a brief ceremony to swear-in new executives of the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Union.
To rake in more revenue for the state, he advised players in the downstream oil sector to pay their taxes regularly.
He announced a meeting scheduled between the Ministry and the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) in September to finalize a cabinet memo on the lifting of the ban on construction of new Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) outlets.
The NPA, in the last few years, placed a ban on the construction of new LPG outlets causing discontent among marketers.
“The lifting of the ban will benefit the union drivers since they will have extra jobs to fetch them extra income,” he revealed.
A group photograph of executives and guests at the ceremony
He charged the NPA to regulate the salaries of the drivers to help reduce artificial shortages in the industry.
However, he urged the NPA to partner other countries that import fuel from Ghana to help monitor dumping of fuels by some unscrupulous drivers.
The Director in charge of Policy for NPA, George Amoah, who represented the CEO of NPA, Mustapha Abdul Hamid, said the NPA is working with the ministry of employment and labour relations to accelerate processes to revive the stalled negotiations on the drivers’ salary.
He urged the new executives to educate their members on regulations of the industry and adhere to rules of safe driving to avoid accidents.
The Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Tanker Drivers’ Union, George Nyaunu assured the drivers of salary increment, in addition to ensuring that their employers register them with SSNIT for retirement relief.
Ultimately, he appealed to tanker owners to employ drivers from the union.
By: Umar Sheriff Musah