LPG Marketing Association Supports CRM, Says Gabriel Kumi

The LPG Marketers Association (LPGMA) has denied allegations that they oppose the Cylinder Recirculation Model (CRM). In a statement issued on Sunday, July 21, and signed by Vice President Gabriel Kumi, the association clarified that these claims are unfounded.

The statement emphasized that LPGMA has had numerous discussions with the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) and agreed that both the refilling system and CRM should coexist.

“Our advertisements are solely aimed at promoting LPG usage to protect our environment and support indigenous businesses, not to oppose CRM.

“There are clear differences between opposition and competition in our humble opinion. Our requests to mount cages in all our LPG stations across the country to support the policy by distributing CRM cylinders were vehemently turned down by the NPA,” the statement read.

The association criticized the NPA for suggesting that LPGMA is resistant to change, calling such statements “derogatory and disingenuous.”

LPGMA acknowledged that transitioning from the refilling system to CRM would be costly and stressed the need for transparency regarding the potential job creation of CRM.

They pointed out that the current refilling system provides over 10,000 jobs, including 8,000 direct and 2,000 indirect positions, and questioned the job creation claims made by the NPA regarding CRM. “We are yet to be told the exact number of jobs that CRM could potentially create, and it will do all of us a lot of good if NPA could tell Ghanaians how many jobs CRM has created over the past year of its launch. Simply claiming that CRM will generate ’Aboboyaa’ jobs is insufficient, lacks transparency and authenticity, and can only have propaganda and a populist value.”

LPGMA called on the NPA to uphold its regulatory role with impartiality and ensure a fair and balanced approach for all stakeholders in the industry.

“There is no example of any country in the world with a well-established, regulated, robust, and entrenched LPG distribution network that has abandoned it in favour of CRM without due process and adequate compensation to indigenous investors. Colombia, which transitioned to CRM, provided full compensation to its citizens. Nigeria, on the other hand, is moving away from CRM to refilling plants even though they started with a dual system,” the statement concluded.