Liberia: President Weah Sacks Bobby Brown Over Fuel Shortages Brouhaha

President of Liberia, H.E. George Manneh Oppong Weah has dismissed the Deputy Managing Director for Operations of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company, Bobby Brown over gross negligence and fraudulent activities. 

According to the President, Mr Brown will be investigated by the appropriate authorities and, if found guilty, will be prosecuted under the full weight of the law.

The dismissal of Bobby Brown followed findings of a Special Task Force commissioned by the president to investigate the recent shortages of petroleum product on the market.

The West African nation was hit by fuel shortages, leading to long queues at filling stations.

The development brought the transport sector of the economy almost to a halt.

In a statement, President Weah said during this process, any other personnel found to be directly linked to illegality with regards to petroleum movements would face prompt administrative actions, and would also face prosecution under the law.

Among actions the President has taken to avoid recurrence of the shortages are that “All petroleum importers who currently have payments for provisional lifting products still outstanding are hereby given 90 days to restitute the products, either in cash or in-kind; and petroleum importers that willfully transferred products stored at their facilities are also given 90 days to restitute the products, either in cash or in kind.

“The Ministry of Justice is hereby ordered to place such importers in receivership until the products are recovered. Failure to replenish the products within the specified time will result in the revocation of importers’ licences and forfeiture of allocated storage facilities.

“All petroleum importers’ licences are hereby suspended and are to be individually subjected to a performance-based review covering the period January 2017 to January 2020.  Re-activation of licences will be done on a case-by-case basis, and those that do not meet performance and capacity requirements satisfactory to the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company will be subject to revocation.”

The President assured petroleum importers that all products accepted into the storage facilities of the Liberia Petroleum Refining Company would be protected from fraudulent and illegal manipulation, going forward.

Source: www.energynewsafrica.com