Franklin Cudjoe, the President of IMANI Africa has said the previous NPP administration under Akufo-Addo looted the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and almost sold the refinery to it cronies as scrap.
According to Franklin Cudjoe, ongoing revival of the Tema Oil Refinery can only be credited to current NDC government and the Managing Director of the refinery Edmond Kombat.
The IMANI president made the remarks while revisiting his engagement with Edmond Kombat in November 2025, when the refinery’s managing director invited him to see efforts to restore it.
He further advised Edmond Kombat Esq. to leave a legacy through effective and efficient leadership so his children, family and village would not be shamed as others who looted state funds.
In a Facebook post, Franklin Cudjoe wrote, “THE TEMA OIL REFINERY REVIVAL IS SOLELY THE WORK OF THE CURRENT MD AND THE GOVERNMENT. THE LAST ADMINISTRATION PILLAGED, ATTEMPTED TO SELL TOR TO CRONIES AND LEFT TOR MORIBUND. THEY CAN’T BE CREDITED WITH ANY PART OF THE CURRENT TURN AROUND. BUT FOR Kofi Bentil , ME, AND THE OSP THE REFINERY WOULD HAVE BEEN SOLD AS SCRAP BY THE LAST GOVERNMENT.
Anyway in November 2025, the new MD of Tema Oil Refinery invited me to understand what he is doing to revive one of the most abused and raped state institutions.
I wrote the following.
“A moribund debt-saoked institution and a demotivated and partisan ageing staff were the legacy of the other guys who left [ government] last year. $500m in debt due to mostly crookish high-way paper robbery by kith and kin of the last guy who was also the Jubilee House overlord.
The new younger MD is slowly breathing life into an asset l would long have sold to competent private hands. He is restructuring the debt iceberg he met, thawed a little in a few millions saved. He is retrofitting the Refinery with internally generated funds, not borrowed a dime, and you only need to listen to the technical staff who bear witness to the respectable turnaround.
Of course he has the benefit of technically sound folks like Nana Amoasi VII, CEO of Institute for Energy Security.
I had just two words of advice for the MD of Tema Oil Refinery, Edmond Kombat Esq.; leave a legacy through effective and efficient leadership so your children, family and village would not be shamed as others who looted state funds have rendered theirs. Good luck.”
TODAY . Kombat, please TOASO!”
Meanwhile, Edmond Kombat has revealed the refinery had accumulated losses of about GH¢10 billion and debts of approximately $570 million when the current management assumed office in 2025.
The TOR MD disclosed that the refinery was in a deteriorated financial and operational state at the time, adding that key processing units had been out of operation for several years.
He disclosed that the current management has since taken deliberate steps to revive the refinery and restore its operational capacity.
Speaking at a Government Accountability Series on Monday, October 26, Kombat stated, “When the President came back and asked that the refinery be brought back, when we went there to do the assessment, this was the TOR we met. By the time the current management took office in 2025, TOR’s position had deteriorated.
“The company had accumulated losses of about GHS10 billion and its debts had risen from $300 million in 2016 to about $570 million. The crude distillation unit had been out of operation since April 2021 while the Residue Fluids Catalytic Cracker had been shut down since 2019.
“These major units had not received the required maintenance, and TOR had been reduced largely to renting out storage space to petroleum service providers.”
Also, Edmond Kombat revealed that the recovery and restoration efforts have created more than 8,000 direct and indirect jobs for Ghanaians.
He disclosed that TOR currently has 415 young engineers in permanent positions, while 301 temporary workers have been engaged for work related to the refinery’s operations.
Edmond Kombat added that additionally, 67 workers have been engaged for maintenance works on the Residue Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), while 654 people are employed by 35 local contractors currently working at the refinery.
He revealed that employment opportunities demonstrate the wider economic benefits of restoring the refinery.
According to Kombat, restoration efforts had also generated indirect employment for 6,500 people, including tanker drivers and other workers in the downstream petroleum industry.
“The recovery has created a number of jobs, and sometimes we wonder where these people would have been if TOR had not come back,
In effect, direct employment for 1,557 young Ghanaian engineers having employed as a result of restoration and reset. We’ve also created jobs of about 6,500 indirectly for tanker drivers and other workers in the downstream.” he said.
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