Edmond Kombat says leadership turnover left TOR struggling to find stability

Tema Oil Refinery’s repeated changes in leadership during the previous administration made it harder to tackle the company’s longstanding problems, its Managing Director, Edmond Kombat, has said. He argued that successive teams had too little time to put lasting decisions into practice while the refinery was not processing crude oil. Speaking in an interview with Channel One TV, Kombat said TOR had six managing directors and an interim management committee during the eight years of former President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s government. Counting the committee, he described the turnover as roughly seven leadership arrangements, with each period in charge too brief to provide continuity. Kombat also pointed to a backlog of financial accounts that had not been independently audited. He said the refinery had relied on management accounts, leaving uncertainty about its financial position and adding to the difficulties faced by incoming managers. According to him, the current team worked with the Ghana Audit Service to complete audits covering seven years and held an annual general meeting to consider accounts for 2017 to 2025. He further said there had been doubts within parts of the Energy Ministry about whether TOR could remain commercially viable. Kombat said some officials had considered turning the site into a tank farm or using it for another purpose instead of continuing refining operations. Kombat maintained that the refinery remained a valuable national asset. He said turning around an operation with major technical and financial challenges requires consistent leadership and a sustained approach, rather than frequent changes at the top. His comments set out his assessment of the obstacles facing TOR and the steps the current management says it has taken to address its financial reporting backlog.