FINALLY the 480 protesting local oil petroleum transporters have resolved to resume work following a tripartite meeting their leaders had with the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Development officials and those from the Energy Regulation Board (ERB) on Wednesday this week!
Yet again, it has been shown that there is power in dialogue and that no matter how big the differences could be, once you open up for discussion, the problem will have half-way been solved.
If it had been left to continue, the standoff which led to the local transporters into parking their tankers could have grounded the petroleum transportation to a halt, resulting in an artificial critical shortage of fuel in various parts of the country.
Obviously, the further away from Indeni Petroleum Refinery a place is, the more adverse it could have been hit by the shortage of this essential commodity as a result of lack of transport.
The ultimate consequence of such a fuel shortage to both the economy and the individuals’ life is also obvious, given the essentiality of this commodity.
In the end the authorities could have been compelled by circumstances to engage more foreign transporters to fill the gap, the move which could have defeated the very essence of the protest.
We, therefore, salute officials from the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Water Development, those from the ERB and of course those from the Petroleum Transporters Association of Zambia (PTAZ) who represented the transporters, for speedily resolving the issue.
Like in any other such situations, however, the lessons abound.
Firstly, the main issue in contention was that the Government, through the ERB, should stop engaging foreign oil transporters to ferry the commodity at the expense of local ones.
Mines, Energy and Water Development Permanent Secretary Charity Mwansa, however, clearly explained early this week why despite the initial Government assurances on the matter, the foreign drivers had continued transporting the commodity.
As Ms Mwansa elucidated, the Government contracts with some foreign oil transporters were still in effect and could not be terminated abruptly because that would be in breach of contracts, which has its own penalties.
The Government will begin to incorporate more local fuel transporters in the delivery chain as and when contracts with foreign transporters expire, and this is as it should be.
For sure, in all sectors of the economy, there should be deliberate policies to empower the local players economically instead of giving business to the foreign players.
Yes, deliberate measures should be taken to safeguard the business interest of the local players while at the same time maintaining high standards of delivery of goods and services.
In short, there is need to balance between or reconcile the capacity for the local players, in this case the local transporters to deliver the oil on time, and without any challenges – including decanting of fuel on the way – and the need to support local businesses.
This means that the local transporters themselves should come up with ways of growing their capacities to effectively meet the specified requirements while on the other hand the Government should in the same vein help them achieve that.
Rightly so, for now the ERB should compile a list of existing local fuel transporters and assess their capacity to deliver before they can be engaged in the distribution chain.
Another issue is the reported disparity in the rates of payment between the local transporters and their foreign counterparts.
We believe the authorities could have had a good reason for that, otherwise there is no way they could vary the payment merely on grounds of nationalities of the payees.
Without doubt, this episode calls for the need for the authorities to fully explain the decisions and their implementation methodologies as they announce any changes.
We feel that when it was announced that the Government would stop engaging foreign oil transporters, the issue of subsisting contracts with some of these (foreign transporters) was not addressed, hence the mayhem it caused among the local transporters. OPINION