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Some members of the Ghana LPG Operators Association (GLiPGOA) yesterday, May 21, 2018, began a strike to protest the implementation of the cylinder re-circulation module.
Many users of LPG who had gone to some refill stations to purchase the product were left stranded.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo directed the implementation of the module on October 13, 2017, following a number of fire outbreaks at LPG refill plants.
The module, to be enforced by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), requires that LPG filling points are sited out of densely populated areas and commercial centres.
It further requires that LPG bottling plants distribute products to consumers through retail outlets.
The policy also requires that low-risk LPG stations be designated for the supply of gas to vehicles.
Members of the GLiPGOA have since protested against the planned implementation of the policy, arguing that it is counter-productive, and threatened to strike if the government fails to withdraw it.
While quite a number of gas dispensing stations in Accra joined the strike, others, including those owned by the Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), were still selling.
When the Daily Graphic visited some gas dispensing centres in Accra, consumers of gas, including motorists, were seen stranded outside the premises of some gas stations, reports Dominic Moses Awiah.
Whereas some of the gas stations had people standing at the entrance to alert consumers to the fact that they were not selling, other stations had closed the gates to the premises.
All the centres visited at Dansoman, Sakaman, Lapaz, Kwashieman and Accra New Town had gas in stock but the places were locked up.
Some consumers who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed worry about the situation and called on the government to resolve the issue urgently.
Ms Rebecca Dante, who was spotted at the Dansoman gas station, said although she knew about the planned strike, “I thought the issue had been addressed”.
In an interview, some attendants at some gas stations said they had been instructed by their owners not to open for business.
There was no business activity at the Superior Gas Filling Station and the SSNIT Junction Gas Station in Elmina in the Central Region yesterday, Timothy Gobah reports.
While the dispenser at the SSNIT Junction Station was closed with a huge padlock, a "No gas" sign had been placed in front of the Superior Gas Station.
There was nobody at the two places to speak with.
From Koforidua in the Eastern Region, George Folley reports that all gas filling stations had declared a sit-down action, with the exception of the GOIL Filling Station.
There was a long queue at that station, as people rushed there to fill their cylinders.
Taxi drivers who also use gas in their cars were not left out.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic, an attendant at one of the stations that were not selling gas, Mr Kwasi Amomah, appealed to the government to postpone the implementation of the cylinder recirculation exercise.
Samuel Duodu reports that the strike was yet to receive full participation in Tamale, as some of the gas filling stations visited by the Daily Graphic sold gas to members of the public.
The Wuntuma and the DP Dukes Gas stations at Lameshegu were open and served members of the public.
In separate interviews, some workers at the two gas stations said they had heard about the nation-wide strike declared by GLiPGOA but their bosses had not officially communicated to them not to sell.
However, there was no business activity at the BB Gas Station situated at the SSNIT Flats area and another around the School of Hygiene as of 11.45 a.m.
In Ho, LPG filling stations joined the nationwide strike, reports Kofi Atsivor.
Checks by the Daily Graphic revealed that some of the stations, including Kings Energy, Radiance Gas and Louis Gas, had posted notices of ‘No Gas’ on their premises.
Station attendants turned away clients, mostly taxi drivers who drove to the stations to buy the product, with the explanation that they were on strike.
The situation was, however, different at the Top Gas Station at the Poly Junction, where some customers confirmed buying the product before the station ran out of stock about 9 a.m.
From Tema, Della Russel Ocloo reports that LPG vending stations in the metropolis were shut down yesterday.
At most of the stations visited by the Daily Graphic team, attendants said they had suspended sales until further communication from the national leadership of the GLiPGOA.
At the Kristo Asafo LPG Station, scores of taxi drivers who had gone to refill their vehicles were turned away by the manager of the facility.
The situation was not different at the Kaysens Vending stations at the Tema Port and Lashibi.
From Bolgatanga, Vincent Amenuveve reports that while some gas filling stations along the Bolgatanga-Navrongo highway had stopped serving the public, other stations were serving.
At the Extee Gas Station, for instance, a "NO Gas" sign was put at the entrance, although a number of residents trooped to the station with their empty gas cylinders to fill.
Also at a filling station at Yikene, a suburb of Bolgatanga, some residents were seen buying gas. The consumers told the Daily Graphic that they wanted the government to urgently do something about the situation.
Meanwhile, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr Alhassan Tampuli, has denied claims that the new LPG policy will lead to job losses.
On the contrary, he said, thousands of additional jobs would be created when the policy was rolled out.
He, therefore, challenged any individual or group with contrary facts to come to the debating table.
Mr Tampuli urged the GLiPGOA to end its strike and return to the negotiation table.
But the President of GLiPGOA, Torgbui Adaklu V, told the Daily Graphic that the strike by LPG outlets would continue until the government took the concerns of its members into consideration.
He said there were attempts to gag him, to the extent that the issues he had raised at committee meetings had consistently not been captured in board minutes.
