TOR Recovery Levy still a misery

The government has pledged to be transparent in its dealings to win the confidence of the public. However, one issue which many want to be made public continues to be a misery. Who will say the truth, Charles Benoni Okine asks?

THE Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning is persistently being illusive about the amount of money collected under the TOR Recovery Levy.

The situation is gradually giving credence to allegations that the funds which are being collected from the public to settle the huge debt of the ailing Tema Oil Refinery, has been grossly misapplied.

At a special forum organized by the ministry for members of the Institute of Economic and Financial Journalists (IFEJ), a question posed but the Graphic Business about how much has accrued from the levy elicited the usual response of “we do not have the figures readily available”; “we will find it for you later when you come to the office”.

Much as the officials from the ministry pledged to make the figures available, none of them owned up to be the contact person for the information as has been the case for many years.

The levy was introduced some 10 years ago in a bid to clear the massive debt overhang on TOR as a result of under recoveries.

The size of the debt nearly sent the Ghana Commercial Bank which finances most of the letters of credit for the lifting of crude oil for processing by TOR, to its knees until the introduction of the levy, proceeds of which were used at the initials stages to clear part of the debt.

Since then, what has accrued from the levy continues to be a mirage as the public is denied that information.

The attitude of government has forced some institution to demand accountability from government as far as the levy is concerned.

Recently, the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) expressed concerns about the lack of transparency regarding the TOR Recovery Levy of 8.0Gp per litre of petrol, which has been collected over the past 10 years, ostensibly to clear debts jeopardizing the effective operations of the country’s only refinery.

PEF, in a statement said; “the public is not aware of the amounts of the debts that have been re-paid, the amount outstanding and how long it will take to completely retire the debt.”

Managing Director of the TOR, Mr. Ato Ampiah is reported to have said recently that the monies accruing from the TOR Recovery Levy were not being applied for its intended purpose, a statement the new Energy Minister, Emmanuel Kofi Buah subsequently debunked but could unfortunately not provide the amount accrued nor explain in detail, how the money has been applied over the years.

Workers of TOR had accused government officials of deliberately running down the 45,000bpd capacity refinery so their cronies would benefit from the importation of refined petroleum products.

Although the refinery is not operating, workers are being paid for doing nothing while the plants go waste for lack of use.

Some experts have claimed that the government will have to dole out millions of Ghana cedis to maintain the plants when it ready to use it, funds of which could have been used to solve some other pressing challenges.

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA)’s on its part has also not been able to give any tangible explanations as to why TOR remains dormant for years in spite of the claims of implementing the deregulation policy.

NPA continues to handle petroleum pricing formula, over the past decade, aimed at ensuring full cost recovery, revenue generation, and unified ex-pump prices throughout the country through the Unified Petroleum Price Fund, (UPPF).

In addition to procurement and handling charges, and other related charges, parliament imposes taxes and levies on every litre of petrol including excise duty of 2.7800Gp, TOR Debt Recovery of 8.0000Gp. Cross Subsidy Levy of 5.0000Gp, Exploration Levy of 0.1000Gp, Energy Fund Levy of 0.0500Gp and Road Fund Levy of 6.0000Gp.