According to the Association, whose members have received a lot of flak for an apparent failure to adhere to safety measures at their outlets, DVLA and Ghana Gas should not be absolved of blame for recent explosions, including the one at Atomic Junction last week, which claimed seven lives.

[contextly_sidebar id=”jCXuG4bBUhjB941bsyZeN2dAlWoLKPsx”]In a bid to curb such occurrences, the government has put in place a number of policies including the implementation of a gas re-circulation programme, which the LPG marketers are opposed to.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday, the Public Relations Officer of the LPG Marketers Association, Kwame Owiredu, said that the LPG distribution outlets cannot be held solely responsible for the explosions, as the two aforementioned entities were mandated to ensure the road worthiness of the vehicles that transport and dispense the gas.

“We must have a broad view approach to LPG distribution. If there was a problem with the tanker, we don’t license tankers; we don’t license the BRVs. We have a licensing regime, the DVLA has to make sure that the BRVs are road-worthy and are worthy of what they are going to be used for. That is why we think the discussion of LPG should not be reduced to retailers and marketers alone,” he said.

“You can’t have one isolated issue and decide to make it the norm or what has been happening on a regular basis. Our drivers are being regulated by the NPA, they have training procedures that they go through. We are making the discussion look as though it’s [caused] by only LPG people. As an LPG operator, I don’t sign off on the road-worthiness of the tankers carrying gas from Atuabo or their worthiness to carry on the business. We have other institutions and regimes who have to do that.”

Kwame Owiredu explained that, the tanker drivers had expressed concerns about the gas which had been supplied from Atuabo, and drawn the attention of Ghana Gas and the NPA, who had not taken it up.

He insisted that, the LPG outlets and the drivers were being unfairly singled out for blame, while those mandated to regulate them had been let off the hook.

“The drivers observed that, with the gas they carry from Atuabo, they had noticed some mishaps with the carriage and reported the matter to Ghana Gas. They also alerted the NPA. At the point of loading at the depot, [Ghana Gas] could have checked that per the specification of their gas, the BRVs that are carrying their gas meet their specifications,” he said

“That is why this whole discussion should not be reduced to LPG retailers alone, because if you are loading a BRV at the depot and it doesn’t meet the specification to carry that particular gas, you should make the driver aware. You don’t let the driver carry something you know his vehicle is not worthy of carrying and discharge it at a point and when there’s a problem, you blame someone else. The whole safety issue should start from the depot.”

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, such an action, if backed by a court order would serve as a deterrent to operators of such Liquefied Petroleum Gas refill points not to compromise on safety regulations and standards.

[contextly_sidebar id=”LxzgwmDWomxNmMTST2UQX1SBjHXYT2mJ”]The Former Environment Minister’s comments follow the explosion on Saturday that has so far claimed seven lives, and rekindled conversations about safety and the possible complicity of stakeholders in fuel distribution.

Speaking to Citi News, Mahama Ayariga indicated that, victims should consider taking legal action against the owners of the gas depot.

He reminded that, there were legal remedies available and “said [a class action lawsuit] was one of the things that needed to happen.”

After some major explosions in the past, the government has stepped in to foot medical bills of victims and sometimes paid for funeral costs.

But Mr. Ayariga believes the government’s intervention allows the companies involved in these accidents of the hook.

“Very often, after all the talking, that doesn’t happen so facility owners who have caused such damage get away with it. There is no reason why our tax money should be used to pay compensation to those who suffer injury as a result of this accident.”

He added that the person who caused the accident and the insurance companies “should also feel it a bit by being held accountable so that next time insurance companies will increase the premium, and then if the person loses his property in an effort to pay compensation and damages, he will be more stringent with his managers.”

LPG distributors shift blame

The LPG Marketing Companies Association of Ghana, has tried to downplay concerns that LPG stations are slowly becoming death traps amid calls for the cessation of on-site dispensing of LPG, and the expected Cylinder Re-circulation module.

A spokesperson for the LPG Marketing Companies dismissed these assertions and attributed Saturday’s incident to a failure by the attendants at the gas station to use the electric discharge pumps which had been put in place for the dispensing of gas into the Bulk Road Vehicles (BRVs).

However, the Fire Service is yet to conclude investigations into the explosion to ascertain the exact cause.

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Mansco Gas must compensate explosion victims – Mahama Ayariga appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Association in a statement released following the massive explosion at a gas station near Atomic Junction in Accra on Saturday, maintained that Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) “in itself is safe” as it has been processed for people to use.

[contextly_sidebar id=”wJdps6b3scTgMGie7UDouD4JbkHbHF1X”]Thus, the LPG Marketing Companies believe poor handling may have resulted in the explosion at Atomic Junction as it noted that “where safety procedures are not properly implemented, there will always be issues irrespective of location.”

This is a sentiment that has been conveyed by Fire Service’s Deputy Director of Public Relations, Billy Anaglatey, and the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, despite the Atomic explosion being at least the eighth major gas explosion since 2014.

The effect of the massive explosion is slowly spreading in the form of protests against seemingly haphazard siting of gas and fuel stations in residential and densely populated areas.

Residents of Ritz junction in Accra, for example, on Sunday staged a demonstration to demand the removal of a Gas Station located in the area.

Students of the University of Professional Studies, UPSA, Accra, also plan to rekindle protests against the siting of a fuel station next to its campus.

But the LPG Marketing Companies Association believes the explosion should ginger regulatory authorities and all stakeholders in the industry “to concentrate on creating a robust safety regime of procedure, supervision and monitoring function.”

“It is unfortunate that previous reports concerning similar explosives have not been thoroughly analyzed and put before the public. It is also important to emphasize that most of these explosions, about 90 percent, occur during discharges from the truck tanks (Bulk Road Vehicles, BRVs) into the station tanks. This implies poor attention to safety measures during discharge. The industry must be prepared to invest in safer management as the number one priority of the user public,” the statement concluded.

Despite the concerns with safety, the Association is however against the National Petroleum Authority’s plan to introduce a Cylinder Recirculation Module which seeks to ensure the safe distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in the country.

Indications from the hierarchy of governance indicate that, further protests in this regard will not be countenanced, as the Vice President communicated a resolve to put the interest and concerns of the people first.

“Some new policies are going to come in and those who are going to try to resist those policies, I don’t think they will be listened to because it is important for us to put the safety of our people above everything else,” the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia declared from the scene of the explosion.

The Government is expected to hold a crunch cabinet meeting over Saturday’s gas explosion, and speaking during his tour of the Northern Region on Sunday, President Nana Akufo-Addo said one of the main issues for the meeting is to decide on the way forward for the prevention of such explosions.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gas explosions: Safety must be prioritized – LPG Marketing firms appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He disclosed that he was out of the country when the NPP made the decision but “if they had sought my opinion, I would have said don’t do this. This is the third time we are doing it [boycotting a national event] and it is not good.”

The NPP on Monday announced its decision to boycott the National Economic Forum being organized by government to find solutions to Ghana’s current economic crisis.

They described the Forum as a PR gimmick and propaganda tool being used by government to delude the populace of the true state of the Ghanaian economy.

Nonetheless, stakeholders who were invited to the Forum honoured the invitation with the exception of the NPP.

The Forum started on Tuesday and was opened by the President John Mahama who in his open remarks condemned the posturing of the NPP.

In an interview with Citi News, Mr. Pianim who is the only NPP member at the Forum said it is time for Ghanaians to “put our political colours aside and act as Ghanaians.”

“When you go and watch Kotoko and Hearts, do you ask whether your party people are coming? No. I think it is sad and I think maybe it was a mistake”

He complained that politics in Ghana is too focused on the next election but “we need to get to a stage where once we elect a party into power, at least for three years, there should be no politics.”

He added that nine months to the next general elections, “we can do politics.”

The NPP stalwart maintained that his suggestion is feasible because the concentration on political issues to the detriment of national issues is hurting the economic fortunes of the country.

By: Benjamin Epton Owusu/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post NPP Forum boycott was a wrong move – Kwame Pianim appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.