3 Northern regions suffer fuel shortage
The fuel situation in the three northern regions is far from improving and has created a black market boom, as some fuel attendants and unscrupulous members of the public have teamed up to exploit motorists.
Because of the difficulty in obtaining fuel, some business entities have been compelled to buy it from the black market to fuel their vehicles.
A gallon of petrol, which officially sells at GH¢12, now sells at GH¢30 but that is even difficult to come by.
Tamale
A public servant, Mr Abdul Karim, told this reporter that he bought a gallon of petrol for GH¢30 to fuel his organisation’s vehicle to enable him to carry out his duties.
Long queues of vehicles had formed at some filling stations that had petrol in the metropolis when the Daily Graphic team visited those places yesterday. At those stations, individuals with ‘gallons’ also struggled with the drivers to buy the product.
As a result of the situation, commuters in the metropolis found it very difficult to move around. The sight of passengers struggling to join taxis was very common, even though some drivers had increased their fares to be able to recover the cost of fuel.
Bolgatanga
In Bolgatanga, the fuel situation was yet to normalise, economic activities having been slowed down in the municipality.
A taxi driver, Issah Musah, said that when he saw many passengers along the Bolgatanga-Bongo stretch of the road, a situation which had been created as a result of the shortage, he had no choice than to overload his vehicle.
Wa
The supply of petrol to some filling stations- expected to bring relief to motorists in Wa, rather resulted in chaotic scenes, as drivers and motorbike riders struggled over petrol yesterday, reports Michael Quaye.
It took the intervention of a joint police and military team to restore order at the Total filling station, near the regional police headquarters, where long queues of cars, motorbikes and men carrying ‘gallons’ meandered out of the station into the surrounding areas.
A similar scene was witnessed at the Excel filling station in Wa. It also took a joint police and military team to restore calm and supervise the sale of the fuel until the filling station ran out of stock.
"I had parked my car for almost a week because I didn't have petrol, then I get here and somebody wants to jump the queue to buy before I do," Shakur Abdulai, one of the persons carrying yellow ‘gallons’ who described himself as a businessman, said when asked what was causing the confusion at the filling station.
