Despite Gov’t’s Assurances: Many Filling Stations Still Without Gas

Despite assurances by the Liberian government that consignments of the gasoline product were expected in the country over the weekend to ease the gasoline shortage, many filling stations in and around Monrovia are still practically without the product.
Last Thursday, in the wake of the shortage of the commodity, the Information Minister, Len Eugene Nagbe, disclosed that the Government of Liberia along with licensed gasoline importers would have brought into the country thousands of gallons of gasoline in tankers from an undisclosed neighboring country.
He also said that the additional petroleum product that was expected late yesterday would have served as an emergency product to be distributed among various filling stations in order to ease the burden citizens had to pass through in getting the petroleum product, as the government worked to remedy the gasoline shortage confronting the country.
At the MICAT’s regular Thursday press briefing in Monrovia, Minister Nagbe, among many things, lectured that the government regrets the situation but is exerting all efforts in ensuring that the situation got resolved.
However, despite the Minister’s assurances, our reporters who visited many filling stations over the weekend observed that yet still many filling stations are without gasoline.
Apparently, the queues of vehicles, as well as ‘Pen Pens’ and motorbikes piled at these stations in anticipation of getting gasoline over the weekend were no longer seen around the filing stations because of the unavailability of the product at these filling stations.
Our reporters further noticed that at some of these stations without the product, the authorities at these stations placed visible signs to indicate that there is “No Gas.”
However, the government though the LPRC is again reassuring the public that the arranged consignment of gasoline purchased from neighboring Guinea and Ivory Coast to race the government initiative to ease gas shortage are due in Monrovia beginning today, Monday February 17.
LPRC management yesterday disclosed that the additional consignment of gasoline is expected to be brought into the country by Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 18, 2020 and all will total to about 1,000 metric tons of petroleum products to arrive in the country this week.
Reports circulating also in the various newsrooms said that a ‘gasoline ship’ is expected to berth at the port of which Conex and Aminata & Sons are having 10,000 and 4,000 metric tons of gasoline respectively.
There have been this blame game over the years that there have been disparities in stock reports owing to operational loses and reports of requests to defray the costs of difference between book stock and bulk stock by present and past managing directors as well as government administrators.
The Deputy Managing Director for Operations at LPRC, Bobby G. Brown, confirmed that an LPRC envoy is with the team to validate the actual number of purchased gasoline as well as to escort the tankers to the LPRC storage.
Contrary to what was explained by Siaka Toure regarding the bad system for importation and regulation of petroleum products in the country, Mr. Brown is among those in the current administration who has been explaining that the historical loses now affecting the country formally began to be noticeable in 2008, but was officially recorded during the management of the late Harry Greaves in 2010, as well as the past managements of T. Nelson Williams, Sumo Krupee, Nyemade Pearson and Marie Urey Coleman, noting, “Mrs. Marie Urey Coleman and I are clean,” Mr. Brown exonerated this new management of the LPRC.