Atomic Gas Explosion: NPA Boss Should Have Been Sacked By Now

Former National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for the La Dadekotopon constituency, Nii Amasah Namoale, wants the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), sacked over the deadly gas explosion at Atomic Junction in Accra.

According to him, the NPA has failed woefully in its supervisory roles.

Speaking on Citi FM's news analysis programme, The Big Issue, on Saturday, Mr. Namoale insisted that the NPA boss must go.

“I was surprised the NPA boss was not sacked and no NPA person has been sacked. I was expecting him to be sacked. This is because [President] Nana Addo promised that he was going to be a very proactive and effective president. They [NPP government] said the Atomic Junction gas explosion was going to be the last one, but there was gas leakage at Mawarko in my constituency – everybody was running helter-skelter. If it had happened, will that be the last one? Let us not use kid gloves to solve this problem.”

Nii Amassah Namoale
7 perish in Atomic junction gas explosion
Seven people perished whilst 132 others sustained injuries, when a gas station at Atomic Junction near Madina went up in flames on Saturday, October 7.

The cause of the explosion is yet to be ascertained by the security service.

The Government has since announced some measures after a crucial emergency meeting to deal with the menace of explosions at fuel stations.

The measures include the closure of high-risk fuel stations which is ongoing, the cessation of the construction of new fuel stations to allow for proper safety audit, and the implementation of the cylinder re-circulation policy expected to happen within a year.

But the former legislator NDC legislator said if this had occurred in “advanced countries, the NPA boss would have resigned.”

“This is because when an LPG truck moves from Tema to go and discharge [gas] anywhere in the country, there are rules and regulations governing it. Who follows up to know whether the driver is doing what he’s supposed to do. So if I call for the head of NPA, I'm not calling because of politics,” the Namoale argued.

Ghana has seen about eight major gas explosions in the last four years, apart from the major fire and flood disaster that killed some 150 people in 2015, when a gas petrol/diesel station went up in flames at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin