Private legal practitioner, Kwame Jantuah, has warned authorities against the consequences of the influx of Chinese tanker trucks in Ghana’s oil downstream space.
The legal practitioner wants the influx checked to save local businesses.
A letter by the Tanker Owners Union to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), appealed to the NPA to intervene in the importation of several tanker trucks by Chinese nationals into the country which they said is affecting their livelihoods.
Mr. Jantuah in an Eyewitness News interview on Citi FM backed the calls of the Union and warned the government of the consequences of the importation of the trucks if it is not urgently checked.
“The downstream industry is one part of the oil value chain that has a lot of Ghanaians in there and so we must not entertain foreigners in the space. The Chinese just don’t do anything for nothing.
“They want maximum control to put in a refinery, they want to go into haulage, if they go into haulage, the next thing you will see will be petrol garages and the moment that happens, the local industry and companies like GOIL will be dead.
“We must prioritise local companies and not necessarily allow foreign companies to come in and kill local companies. The quantum of people that will go out of business will be more than the number of people that they will employ and the profit they will be making will be repatriated back to China the repatriation will be done in Dollars and this will put a strain on the Ghanaian economy.”
