AFTER six years at the helm Trinidad and Tobago National Petroleum Marketing Company Limited (NP) you would think that the chairman and his board of directors would know what procedure to follow.
This of course in relation to trying to hike the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at their gas stations. They must get approval from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries and the Cabinet before embarking on such a tricky move.
It’s quite curious also that NP issued a statement so quickly apologising to Minister Stuart Young for the move to increase the LPG price through a service charge and blame it on an employee who they claimed inadvertently issued communication conveying the increase to some of its service stations.
No wonder the Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum Dealers Association (PDA) called on the entire board to resign.
It looks like the PDA understands the duties and operations of the board of directors and their required correspondence with their line minister more than the board itself.
Especially since there was actually an NP’s board note that disclosed that the board unitedly decided to increase the price of LPG gas (cooking gas) and this would be executed by a “service charge.”
LPG is very heavily subsidised as part of government’s policy, and no one could understand what was going on here as NP couldn’t explain properly that the real issue actually related to transportation and handling cost to get LPG cylinders to some stations that are located at far locations from the head office.
This raises many questions and seems curiouser and curiouser.
It’s standard practice that all board notes go to the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries with a summary outlining board decisions, however, any decision like this would have to get the line minister’s explicit approval before implementing.
So was this decision taken sent to the line minister Stuart Young before implementing or did NP board just decide to do this on their own?
Didn’t NP board listen to the Budget and understand that the Minister of Finance Colm Imbert stated last Monday that all subsidies on LPG and kerosene remained unchanged? Therefore, the cost of a 20-pound cylinder remained at $21 but unwittingly the board felt they could have override the Minister of Finance apparently.
Was NP’s board just trying to cover their behinds by claiming an employee was not authorised to issue an e-mail informing some of the service stations of the “service charge” on LPG tanks, especially knowing now that the board unitedly took the decision to increase the price.
LPG is very heavily subsidised, and no one could understand what was going on here as NP couldn’t explain properly the real issue actually is related to transportation and handling cost to get LPG cylinders to some stations that are located at far distances from the head office, and this is why NP tried to hike the price of the LPG tanks.
NP had no alternative but to apologise by isuing a release on the October 7, stating that they had no power to change the price of LPG and apologised.
For this misstep many more board members should tender their resignations.
As some bad fumes seem to be emanating from the LPG proposed hike where the board is left with egg on their face, scrambling to save their reputation and their post.
The PDA has the right to call on the entire board to resign as they have been an utter embarrassment and failure in the running of NP’s business affairs.
Under this chairman and board, in the last six years we haven’t seen NP make any profits although it has revenues of approximately $4 billion. It continues to operate at a loss every year.
Under the Peoples Partnership board and previous management, NP was profitable and contributed dividends in 2015 to the tune of approximately $27 million.
(Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of NP. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited.)
NP’s Blunder
AFTER six years at the helm Trinidad and Tobago National Petroleum Marketing Company Limited (NP) you would think that the chairman and his board of directors would know what procedure to follow.
This of course in relation to trying to hike the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at their gas stations. They must get approval from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries and the Cabinet before embarking on such a tricky move.
It’s quite curious also that NP issued a statement so quickly apologising to Minister Stuart Young for the move to increase the LPG price through a service charge and blame it on an employee who they claimed inadvertently issued communication conveying the increase to some of its service stations.
No wonder the Trinidad and Tobago Petroleum Dealers Association (PDA) called on the entire board to resign.
It looks like the PDA understands the duties and operations of the board of directors and their required correspondence with their line minister more than the board itself.
Especially since there was actually an NP’s board note that disclosed that the board unitedly decided to increase the price of LPG gas (cooking gas) and this would be executed by a “service charge.”
LPG is very heavily subsidised as part of government’s policy, and no one could understand what was going on here as NP couldn’t explain properly that the real issue actually related to transportation and handling cost to get LPG cylinders to some stations that are located at far locations from the head office.
This raises many questions and seems curiouser and curiouser.
It’s standard practice that all board notes go to the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries with a summary outlining board decisions, however, any decision like this would have to get the line minister’s explicit approval before implementing.
LPG is very heavily subsidised, and no one could understand what was going on here as NP couldn’t explain properly the real issue actually is related to transportation and handling cost to get LPG cylinders to some stations that are located at far distances from the head office, and this is why NP tried to hike the price of the LPG tanks.
NP had no alternative but to apologise by isuing a release on the October 7, stating that they had no power to change the price of LPG and apologised.
For this misstep many more board members should tender their resignations.
As some bad fumes seem to be emanating from the LPG proposed hike where the board is left with egg on their face, scrambling to save their reputation and their post.
The PDA has the right to call on the entire board to resign as they have been an utter embarrassment and failure in the running of NP’s business affairs.
Under this chairman and board, in the last six years we haven’t seen NP make any profits although it has revenues of approximately $4 billion. It continues to operate at a loss every year.
Under the Peoples Partnership board and previous management, NP was profitable and contributed dividends in 2015 to the tune of approximately $27 million.
(Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of NP. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited.)