{"id":361789,"date":"2017-10-14T08:30:21","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T08:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=361789"},"modified":"2017-10-14T08:30:21","modified_gmt":"2017-10-14T08:30:21","slug":"nana-addo-didnt-err-halting-construction-of-fuel-stations-hamid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=361789","title":{"rendered":"Nana Addo didn’t err halting construction of fuel stations – Hamid"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid, has downplayed suggestions that President Akufo-Addo erred in law by ordering a halt to the ongoing constructions of fuel stations<\/strong><\/a><\/span> across the country.<\/p>\n

According to him, the order is in the best interest of Ghanaians.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”KJxwCDb1F9cuMtxrZoKWnzhNfP95IVzX”]In the wake of the Atomic Junction gas explosion, the construction of petrol\/diesel and LPG filling points, is to cease immediately until further notice, the government has stated.<\/p>\n

This directive formed part of nine safety measures outlined by the Presidency after a cabinet meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n

A statement from the government noted that, President Nana Akufo-Addo has ordered the \u201cimmediate cessation, until further notice, of all construction of facilities intended for use as gas or petroleum retail stations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The directive follows the massive explosion at an LPG filling station at Atomic Junction that has so far claimed at least seven lives and injured over 100 persons.<\/p>\n

But a former Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Mahama Ayariga, said the government may be infringing on the rights of some fuel distributors over the directive<\/p>\n

\"Mahama
Mahama Ayariga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> on Friday, he said he embarked on a similar move while a sector minister in the previous government, but found out that he could not be successful because the action did not have a legal basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did similar things and in all fairness, very often I was challenged by people based on law and they were able to show that clearly, in many of the instances, I was wrong,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

He there advised the government to \u201canalyze every one of them [fuel stations] to see the legal basis for such decisions, and such directives\u201d before any concrete action is taken in this regard.<\/p>\n

But Mustapha Hamid on Eyewitness News<\/strong> said there was no complexity in the directive, and that government had the power to issue such a directive.<\/p>\n

He noted that, the state had empowered agencies to carry-out such actions, adding that, the directive was only for a short period to allow for a proper audit of the sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a country where institutions have been endowed with the power to ensure that people are building structures in accordance with law. So if the president says let us put a stop to the buildings and let us go and see whether the people who are putting it up are doing it according to specifications as enshrined in existing laws, I don\u2019t see how that can be unconstitutional\u2026When the audit is done, those that are cleared to continue can continue,\u201d he said.ss<\/p>\n

–
\nBy: Jonas Nyabor\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minister for Information, Mustapha Hamid, has downplayed suggestions that President Akufo-Addo erred in law by ordering a halt to the ongoing constructions of fuel stations across the country. According to him, the order is in the best interest of Ghanaians. [contextly_sidebar id=”KJxwCDb1F9cuMtxrZoKWnzhNfP95IVzX”]In the wake of the Atomic Junction gas explosion, the construction of petrol\/diesel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,11],"tags":[656,855,3,942],"class_list":["post-361789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-slider-1","category-top-stories","tag-atomic-gas-explosion","tag-fuel-stations","tag-ghana-news","tag-mustapha-hamid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=361789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=361789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=361789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=361789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}