The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Mahama Ayariga, has indicated that relevant stakeholders will soon implement measures to control the harmful effects of substandard fuels imported into the country.
“We have taken note of the fact that there are health implications and implications on the performance of vehicles. In the not-too-far future, there will be an agreement on improving the standards and we expect an improvement in the sulphur content,” he said.
He was responding to findings from a three-year research project by Swiss NGO Public Eye, which revealed that importation of extremely harmful diesel into the country was on the rise.
According to the Public Eye report, which cited African nations as being the most receivers of these dangerous fuels, major European oil companies and commodity traders were exploiting Ghana’s particularly weak fuel standards to export the high-polluting fuels that they could never sell at the pumps in Europe.
Gian Valentino Viradez, Project Manager in charge of Development Policy at Public Eye, who presented the report at a forum in Accra on Thursday September 15, said the practice had damaging effects.
According to him, these fuels contain “nitrogen oxide, sulphur dioxide, and all kinds of pollutants that are known to be very bad for health”.
Mr Viradez added: “They cause chronic diseases and many other conditions such as lung cancer and this has to be taken seriously. We believe Africans have the right to know what they are consuming when they go to the pumps.”
Mr Ayariga has admitted that such products could be on the market due to ineffective checking systems. “It is possible that the standards that we have are scientifically okay, but the products that are coming into the system, due to monitoring lapses are not meeting those standards and are being allowed to pass.”
He said measures were in place to upgrade standards should the need arise. “…There is a process in place to compel the improvement of standards,” he told Accra-based Joy FM on Friday September 16.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com
