“DIRTY FUEL” INSTITUTIONAL DEFICIENCIES AND IMPLICATIONS

Filling stations are dying in advanced economies like Germany, Canada, Japan and China. This has been attributed to increasing sensitivity about environmental protection in these economies, leading to the rise of more sustainable vehicles or better alternatives of fossil fuel like compressed natural gas.

Despite these developments, emerging economies like Ghana remain largely dependent on diesel and gasoline as fuel, creating massive business opportunities for petrol vendors and their suppliers. In Ghana alone, there are as many as over fifty-nine filling station brands operating in almost every corner (GhanaAuto.com, 2014), and this number seems to be on the rise. There is also an increasing number of middle-class citizens largely in populated, urban areas who own petroleum-dependent vehicles and very much patronise these fuel stations. Moreover, there is a general apathy towards environmental and sustainability issues, especially with regards to the use of petrol and diesel dependent fuel has contributed to the creation of a large market that investors are eager to exploit without recourse to protecting human lives and the environment. They consequently import into the country high levels of sulphur laden fuel, a newly-released report by a Swiss NGO, Public Eye has revealed. This is not pleasant news for Ghana.