‘Remove subsidies on LPG, Premix,

Two private sector advocates have called on government to take a second look at some selected petroleum products, which are subsidized to benefit the poor and vulnerable but are being exploited to enrich others in the country.

While Ato Ampiah, who is now the Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery wants the subsidy policy on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) to be removed, the immediate past president of the Association of Ghana Industries, Dr. Anthony Oteng-Gyasi wants to see a review on the subsidy on Premix fuel.

They said this at the first Centre for Freedom and Accuracy business roundtable in Accra on Wednesday, which brought together private sector enterprises and regulatory agencies to deliberate on ways to maximize real benefits from the private sector for economic advancement.

Mr. Ato Ampiah, once the President of the Ghana Employers Association noted that some private and commercial drivers have changed the carburetor systems in their car to take in LPG in order to avoid paying more on petrol and diesel.

“The policy to subsidized LPG is to encourage people to move away from using firewood for cooking but commercial drivers are now using LPG in their cars because they find it cheaper than petrol.

“And as a result more households are reverting to the use of firewood because of the occasional shortages in LPG caused by the activities of drivers.

“So I would want the policy to be reviewed to benefit the right people,” he said.
Dr. Oteng-Gyasi on his part said the subsidy on premix fuel is impacting negatively on fishing as more people including some fishermen have found business in dealing in premix fuel more profitable than fishing.

“In a year (2009) when government gave more premix fuel to the fishermen, the contribution of fishing to GDP declined by about two per cent and you ask yourself why. The answer is that the policy is not working.

Currently, premix fuel is sold to fishermen 25 per cent less the market price.

“Who doesn’t know that when you have four gallons of premix fuel and you mix it with one gallon of normal fuel to run any vehicle? All the commercial drivers know that except maybe us (policymakers).

“So you ask yourself why would the fishermen go fishing with all the hazards involved when they can make money from dealing in premix fuel.

“Government always has good intentions but the implementation of its policies yield bad results,’ he said.

Dr Oteng-Gyasi suggested that government sells the premix fuel to the fishermen at normal price and then build cold stores at the fishing coasts to keep the fish from rotting.

“We must think through our policies before we implement them. If we don’t do that and we go ahead to implement the policies, it will be difficult to take them away,” he added.

The Executive Director of the Centre for Freedom and Accuracy, Andrews Awuni said the first business roundtable conference was to give an overview of the business environment and how private sector enterprises and government can collaborate to achieve their economic goals.

He added that subsequent meetings would be sector specific to address challenges facing each sector of the economy.

“We need to move away from making lip service to the private sector and work together with them to achieve economic advancement,” he said.

CEOs schooled on crisis and investor communication

An international communications expert, Robyn de Villiers, Chief Executive Officer of Arcay Communications, an internationally acclaimed communication consultancy in South Africa has called on corporate businesses in the country to pay attention to investor relations and crisis communications because of its positive impacts on corporate reputation. 

Speaking at a CEOs luncheon lecture on the theme, ‘How Crisis and Investor Communications affect Corporate Ghana’ in Accra, she said as pressure mounts on the investment community to choose the most attractive option, effective investor relations provides a channel for time-sensitive and complex information to be presented in favourable light to potential stakeholders and influencers.

She said investor relations is achieved when there is relationship between a listed company and its private investors, securities analysts, fund managers and employees and is founded in the accurate portrayal of the company’s performance and prospects.

“Today’s stakeholder’s priorities are the quality of the company’s products and services and trust and confidence and it is therefore up to businesses to get the right information across,” she said.

Mrs. De Villiers said the need for companies to integrate social, environmental and economic issues especially the communities in which they operate, noting companies these days are integral to society, being considered as much a citizen as a natural person, as such being bound to responsibility.

In crisis communication she said the inclusivity of stakeholders is essential to achieving sustainability and regaining reputation while advising it is always good for companies to restrict communication in times of crisis.

“Customers today expect reliability, investors and suppliers demand credibility, employees expect trustworthiness while communities expect responsibility,” she added

She said companies that are able to maintain their reputation attract investor interest, create customer preference for its products and services and are also able to gain public trust in times of crises.

She said that nothing tends to compromise companies and often leads to market share loss, heavy litigation costs and significant declines in value.

“In today’s environment, brand loyalty is weaker coupled with greater public scrutiny of companies and hostile political and economic climates for businesses in the country. Without careful communication management, issues impacting your company that might have been harmless embers in the past can become a raging blaze within seconds,” Mrs. De Villiers noted.