Dr Riverson Oppong, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Oil Marketing Companies (COMAC), has drawn a hard line against government intervention in fuel pricing.
The CEO of COMAC argued that private operators who shoulder the heavy burden of raising their own capital and securing commercial loans should have absolute autonomy over their pricing structures in what is supposed to be a thriving free-market economy.
“This is an industry where we have pushed for a full price deregulation policy,” Dr Oppong declared, cutting straight to the heart of the standoff. He posed a pointed rhetorical question to state regulators: “If I’m a private business, I borrow money to run the business. Who is going to determine what I charge for my goods, a ceiling, a cap and all those things, because we are a free market economy?”
While acknowledging that certain margins and components of the pricing framework have loosened over time, Dr Oppong emphasised that underlying government interventions such as active fuel subsidies still haunt the system.
Turning his attention to market expansion, Dr Oppong questioned the relentless influx of new players into an already congested sector housing 245 active operators. With unapologetic candour, he asserted that anyone applying for a new oil marketing license today either completely misunderstands the business or has alternative motives, asking: “Because what is it that you want to do that the 245 players cannot do?”
For Dr Oppong personally, navigating the maze of state interference has proven to be one of the single greatest challenges of his tenure at the helm of COMAC.
As the government continues to grapple with rising international oil prices and maintains its policy of subsidising diesel, Dr Oppong’s bold stance sets the stage for an intense policy showdown over the true meaning of deregulation in Ghana’s energy market.
