FOR the past few days, there has been a shortage of LP gas in most parts of the country. According to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the shortage is partly driven by the upsurge in demand, especially the increase in the number of cars that use gas.
In Tamale in particular the shortage has lasted for almost two weeks. Occasionally some of the outlets have had limited stock to sell out.
Many people may presume the lack of gas to be a minor problem. However, the absence of this essential commodity has caused more problems than expected in some homes. It has fuelled quarrels among siblings and couples and forced people to go hungry.
It has particularly affected some Muslims who are undertaking the Ramadan. Hajia Alhassan Katumi narrates the ordeal that her family goes through cooking meals without gas:
“Our gas got finished three days after the gas shortage occurred. Since then, we are compelled to wake up early each dawn to make fire using the coal pot to enable us to prepare and take meals after the fasting.
“Unfortunately, last week Friday, we overslept and woke up six minutes after 4:00a.m. The charcoal we were to use had been dampened by an overnight rain and so it took my little girl over 20 minutes to make the fire.
Another parent told the Daily Graphic that a quarrel broke out between one of his daughters and her younger brother because the latter had used the little gas left to heat water to bath.
“She was furious because she proposed that we use the remaining gas only for emergency situations and I think she was right,” he stated.
In Mr Rashid’s home, the absence of gas has denied his family some pleasures.
“We can no more drink hot tea at our own time. Sometimes, we are forced to eat food that has gone cold or bath cold water, because it is difficult to make fire just to heat food or water,” he said.
For most people, the return to the use of charcoal brings back the discomfort of cooking in an environment engulfed in smoke and ash, as Latif Sakina complains: “Anytime we use charcoal, our veranda gets dirty with ash and our clothes sometimes smell of smoke.”
And for little Amina, she hates it when her mother uses charcoal to cook because it stains the sauce pans and pots that they use to cook.
“I have to go through some difficulty to clean them and it wastes a lot of time,” she stated.
For now, it is not clear when this shortage would be over, but the residents of Tamale are urging the government to address this problem and free them of the anguish they go through having to return to the use of charcoal.
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