Total boss says fuel adulteration is still a big challenge affecting Uganda

Total Uganda Managing Director, Obi Imemba has said fuel adulteration is still a big challenge affecting country.

He said that because Uganda is a landlocked country, fuels supplied to Uganda from the nearest coast at Mombasa is done through a complicated supply chain that makes it vulnerable to adulteration.

“They (adulterated fuels) destroy people’s cars but also the economy is affected,”Imemba said on Monday during the launch of the Total Uganda customer appreciation week at Golden Tulip Hotel in Kampala.

Imemba said that fuel adulteration happens while fuel is brought using trucks to depots to service stations in trucks and then transported to ground tanks before being put into the vehicles but noted that in between this long and complicated supply chain, the fuel is prone to adulteration.

“Something can wrong along this long supply chain and that is why quality management system is very crucial.”

He noted that there is need for concerted efforts from both government and private sector to fight fuel adulteration.

Despite Uganda National Bureau of Standards announcing that adulterated fuel has drastically reduced on the market due to improve compliance levels up to 99 percent, recently, government  released a list of 75 pumps across the country selling adulterated fuel .

Speaking at a recent function Peter Kitimbo, the field supervisor of fuel marking at UNBS said fuel adulteration has dropped to one percent but noted that this has been possible due to efforts by both government and private companies like Total Uganda that have put in place standards to ensure quality fuels are sold to Ugandans.

However, according to Imemba, Total Uganda has tried to fight fuel adulteration through provision of a mobile laboratory that checks the standards of fuels at all levels of the supply chain.

“At every point of the supply chain, we invest in quality control assurance. For instance if the product is received in Mombasa, quality assurance is done and at  all stages until when they are transferred to the service stations and stored in the ground,” the Total Uganda Managing Director said.

“Every day at every time quality is assured. We have a fully equipped labolatory that does quality checks and in addition we have a mobile quality truck which moves around the country to do spot checks in tanks, trucks on the way and grounds tanks to ensure quality fuels to our customers.”

Customer appreciation week

The Total Uganda Managing Director said that through the customer appreciation week, they would be receiving feedback from their customers about the products but also giving back to them as a way of appreciation.

“We shall visit our key customers, especially the commercial ones to give them gifts as a way of appreciating them for supporting the company for the last 64 years we have been in Uganda,”Imemba said.