The news that music artiste, Peter Bozah alias Fameye, has received ¢25,000 compensation from an unnamed Oil Marketing Company (OMC) for allegedly selling him fuel contaminated with water came to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) as a surprise.
State institutions have the requisite structures to deal with matters relating to their scope of work. Particularly with NPA, there is a directorate, Quality Assurance, which is in charge of investigating the purity and integrity of petroleum products in Ghana.
This Directorate has a laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment purposely for the testing of specific and vital quality parameters. Additionally, there is also the Consumer Services Department within the Corporate Affairs Directorate which interfaces with consumers on such issues as product adulteration, consumer complaints and consumer compensation, to name but a few.
Through effective communication and cooperation between NPA and consumers, some OMCs have paid compensation, either in cash or in kind, to affected complainants. The failure rate of fuel adulteration has dropped significantly from 6.20 per cent in 2016 to 1.37 per cent in 2022, all through the commendable work of the respective directorates of the Authority.
In the case of Fameye and his Management Team, they have refused to cooperate with the NPA in terms of providing the name and location of the retail outlet following his tweet on the suspected purchase of fuel contaminated with water. In an earlier interaction with the Authority, Fameye’s Management Team said it would handle the matter by itself.
Despite that position, the NPA still affirmed its readiness to proceed with the investigation if Fameye’s Management Team decided to cooperate with the Authority by providing it with all the necessary contact details.
The procedure for handling complaints is that upon receipt of the customer complaint, the NPA shall conduct rigorous investigations where samples may be obtained from the retail outlet and the customer’s vehicle. NPA prefers to collect fuel samples from the vehicle of the customer, within 48 hours after purchase.
This is to avoid the incidence of co-mingling whereby a new product could be mixed with an old product that the customer could have purchased. The sample will be taken to the laboratory for quality analysis. The Quality Assurance and Corporate Affairs Directorates will keep the OMC and complainant engaged throughout the process and inform them of the outcome.
The NPA Act 691 mandates the NPA to, among other things, protect the interest of consumers and ensure that they get value for money. Assuming that Fameye’s claim of purchasing fuel contaminated with water is valid, how can NPA protect the interest of other consumers who might have purchased or still purchasing fuel from the unnamed retail outlet?
It is for this reason that on Tuesday 18th April 2023, the Consumer Services Department once again reached out to Fameye’s Management Team for information on the name and location of the retail outlet to proceed with an investigation after the NPA’s attention was drawn to the news of the alleged settlement.
We wish to state categorically that the refusal of Fameye and his Management Team to disclose the name and location of the retail outlet and OMC in question is a concern to the regulator of the industry.
The NPA wishes to reiterate that its doors are still open to thoroughly investigate the case and conduct the needed investigation, provided that Fameye and his Management team cooperate with us.
Any consumer with complaints of suspected fuel adulteration or any fuel-related concerns can reach the NPA customer lines are 054-500-6111 or 054-500-6112.
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