The Centre for Environmental Management and Sustainable Energy (CEMSE) is urging Edmond Kombat, the newly appointed Managing Director of Ghana’s Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), to trim the refinery’s workforce and initiate a major rebranding effort as part of broader steps to restore its financial stability.
TOR has battled long-standing operational inefficiencies and cash flow constraints. CEMSE believes decisive action is required to attract investors and reposition the state-owned facility.
“Kombat must do some introspection because TOR has a lot of redundant staff,” said Benjamin Nsiah, Executive Director of CEMSE. “The company must implement cautionary measures, including a retrenchment exercise, to ensure it becomes cash-flow viable and improves its liquidity position to attract international and other investors.”
Nsiah stressed that TOR’s bloated staffing levels are dragging down operational performance.
“He must muster the courage to lay off some workers, as the redundancy at TOR is overblown and negatively affects the company’s ability to operate efficiently,” he said.
Beyond internal restructuring, Nsiah said TOR’s public image needs a complete overhaul to support its transformation.
“TOR urgently needs rebranding. Most of the time, news about the refinery is negative. We believe there must be a deliberate effort to present TOR as a world-class, sub-regional refinery, comparable to others in the region,” he said.
CEMSE believes repositioning TOR in the public eye is vital to unlocking new capital and technological investment.
“This rebranding is essential to attract the necessary investments, including upgrading obsolete infrastructure, acquiring new tools and equipment, and securing capital financing to boost the refinery’s operations,” Nsiah added.
Kombat’s appointment, following his role as Deputy Managing Director, comes at a time when TOR faces mounting pressure to justify its relevance in Ghana’s energy landscape. The refinery has seen years of underperformance, debt accumulation, and stalled reforms.
