RE: Among other things, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has failed to offer a single strategic option to lift the TOR Institution for Energy Security
The Institute of Energy Security (IES), a think tank focused on energy, is claimed to have released a statement on their appeal to H.E. the President to prevent the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) from collapsing, which has caught the attention of the Ministry of Energy.
The Energy Minister, Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, is said to have failed to show the necessary leadership in order to identify a strategic partner for the renovation of the refinery, among other things, according to the IES.
The Ministry disputes this claim categorically and wants to clarify the following:
1. Dr. Prempeh made a working visit to TOR on March 11, 2021, four (4) days after taking office as Energy Minister, to get a sense of the situation there.
2. Dr. Prempeh has consistently expressed the President's keen interest in the revitalization of the refinery, the creation of jobs, and positioning itself as the market leader on the African continent by seeking a strategic partner for the refinery in meetings with the IMC, Board, Management, and worker unions.
3. Dr. Prempeh swore in a three-member Interim Management Committee (IMC) on June 15, 2021. The IMC's mandate was to oversee the seamless transition from the previous Directors, carry out technical and audits of human resources, as well as to obtain and evaluate strong relationships for TOR.
4. The IMC recommended a strategic partner to the new board in its handover notes and requested the appropriate clearances from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
5. With a clear mission to find a strategic partner for the refinery's renovation, a new Managing Director and Board assumed office in February and March of 2022, respectively.
6. The Hon. Minister then sent a letter to an inter-ministerial committee that included the Ministries of Energy, Finance, Public Enterprise, State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), and TOR asking for an examination of all the processes involving interested parties.
This was done to provide the committee the ability to advise the President when needed.
7. On May 20, 2022, the government gave TOR permission to start talks with a potential strategic partner.
8. After that, on June 10th, 2022, the Hon Minister wrote to the Managing Director of TOR to offer instructions and advise as the refinery gets ready to engage into discussions with a strategic partner with the help of its potential transactional advisor. He added stated that the talks with the strategic partner must take into account, among other things, TOR's debt and the pension funds of the employees.
9. The Minister highlighted in the aforementioned letter that any agreement that the refinery and the strategic partner may achieve is not final until it has been given further in-depth review by the Ministry of Energy and the Office of the President.
The charges made by the IES are borne either out of ignorance of these facts or an intentional attempt to damage the Minister's reputation, as is obvious from the following that Dr. Prempeh has showed strong leadership, vision, and focus in working towards the revamping of TOR.
One would anticipate that the IES would exercise caution when making public statements about matters pertaining to the energy industry and at the very least gather information and facts before doing so.