Sahara Speaks Out
IN WHAT the management of Sahara Group describes as a rare occurrence, the company has jumped onto the fray with its story about the controversy engendered by its operations in the country against the backdrop of the ongoing hiccups in crude oil supply to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
This, Sahara Group explained, would enable Ghanaians to make informed judgment on the subject as it rages.
The reaction of Sahara Group was contained in a correspondence titled 'Open Letter To The People Of Ghana' and signed by its Director Wole Ajibade.
Many in government, the company observed, consider Sahara Group a liability to be avoided at all costs because it could affect its political fortunes.
Sahara Group, the company however explained, is just minding its business adding that, “This is a very trying period in our corporate history”.
Sahara Group stated that it does not involve itself in the politics of the day as it steers clear of the vocation as a private entity.
“As a private entity our business was not to get involved in the politics of the day but to professionally, honestly carry out the job we had been contracted to do, never failing the mandate we had been contracted to do”, Sahara pointed out.
Sahara Group ironically welcomed the ongoing probe into its operations in the country because according to it the duly elected President John Evans Atta Mills has been mandated to take measures which would best serve the interests of the country.
For the past 9 years, Sahara, the statement pointed out, managed Ghana's oil supply without interruption and that the accompanying charges in the operations were to ensure the company's competitiveness.
“Sahara over the last few years had a maximum of 36% of TOR's business, an average of 24% in total”, Sahara explained, stressing that it has no qualms with the NDC manifesto's pointer at a review of its operations in the country.
Showing utmost modesty, rare in a competitive corporate world, the company explained that Sahara Group is not the only efficient organization in managing crude oil shipment, adding that there are others who can equally deliver.
Being a duly elected government of the people of this country, the company explained it does not begrudge the ongoing inquisition because after all this is in the best interest of the people of Ghana.
Sahara Group, having operated in Ghana for the past 9 years and 13 on the African continent, did not falter in its mandated assignment of delivery crude oil to Ghana since it was contracted to do so through due process the Sahara letter noted.
The company noted that it entered the Ghanaian scene amidst a lot of attention. Within a short period since then, Sahara has become a household controversy.
“For those of us who remember historical footnotes, our entry this country was with a lot of attention and in a very short period of time we had become a household debate”, the statement put forth.
Sahara saluted Ghana for allowing an African company like theirs to pitch camp, adding that this is very much in line with the desire of the late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who dreamed of having Africans replace outsiders in the affairs of the continent.
Sahara Group has been in the news for a while following the non-delivery of crude oil to TOR for some months now.
President Mills' suspicious view of the operations of the company, alongside his party's notification of taking another look at the relationship between it and Ghana, has raised some concern among some Ghanaians.
Unfortunately, President Mills' decision in the light of the non-delivery of crude oil to TOR has attracted sympathy for the company among most Ghanaians who consider the government's action in this regard as part of a general condemnation of all deals entered into by the previous political administration.
With the sudden U-turn in getting the company to undertake an emergency delivery of crude oil to TOR, the media was left with no option but to consider the move as the eating of a humble pie government.