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30.03.2005 General News

Don’t Read Sabotage Into Fire Outbreak-CJA

30.03.2005 LISTEN
By JOY ONLINE

The Committee for Joint Action has condemned what it terms scare mongering tactic employed by government officials to explain last Friday's fire outbreak at the Tema Ship yard which also affected pipelines which was transporting crude oil to the Tema Oil Refinery.

A statement from the group said government officials reference to sabotage as a possible cause of the fire could pre-empt the work of the committee set up to ascertain the cause of the fire.

The CJA, which has been protesting the 50 per cent increase in fuel prices rejected attempts by the NPP to use the fire incident, as justification for maintaining last month's petroleum prices increases.

A member of the committee Alhaji Ramadan told Joy News that government should not do anything to impair the impartiality of the investigation committee.

“ The accident is very much regretted but some comments coming from the sectors of government that they are suspecting a sabotage is more diversionary than anything else and the fact that the government has set up a committee to investigate the occurrence, we need to be circumspective in whatever statement we make so that we give the committee a free hand to come up with an objective report.”

Alhaji Ramadan asked government not to capitalize on the cost of reconstructing the ruptured pipelines to justify the fuel price hike

“ The position remains the same because the prices has not been altered it is still ¢30,000 and Ghanaians still cannot afford it, so the difficulty is still there, we believe government should be able to respond to the demand made by the demonstrators all this while but they appears to be adamant…” he said.

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