The Bono Regional Office of the National Petroleum Authority, (NPA) says it will soon collaborate with the police to undertake enforcement exercises to clampdown on dealers who sell petrol and diesel on table-top in the region. Mr Kojo Appiah Odame, the Bono Regional Manager, said the NPA Act 691, outlawed and frowned on the practice, saying offenders would be seriously dealt with. He said petty trading in petrol and diesel is very common in the Wenchi Municipality as well as communities along the Atebubu-Yeji highway and the Atebubu-Kwame-Danso stretch in the Bono East Region. Dealers bottle the products, mount various sale outlets, and target and sell the products to motorcycle and tricycle riders and illegal chainsaw operators to use them in their machines. Speaking at a media engagement in Sunyani, organised by the Authority, Mr Odame not only condemned the practice but insisted that it compromised standards and petroleum quality control. The NPA, which is the regulator of the nation's downstream petroleum, used the engagement to sensitise the media about the activities and mandates of the authority. Mr Odame emphasised that the authority required the support of the media and all stakeholders and called on the media to help intensify public sensitisation on the mandate of the NPA, as it worked to ensure all licensed fuel pumps in the region sell quality fuel. Mrs Farida Ali-Musah, the Legal Manager, of NPA, explained the Authority required a special court designated to handle and prosecute petroleum-related offences. This would facilitate expeditious prosecution of petroleum-related offences and breaches in the downstream sector. With such a court in place, the police prosecutor, judiciary and key stakeholders would be trained and well empowered, to understand and appreciate the magnitude of petroleum-related offences as well. Mrs Ali-Musah said such a court would greatly help give a realistic interpretation to the Executive Instrument (EI) 378, enacted to enhance the authority's regulatory mandate.

Source: Ghana News Agency