Jah Oil Company claimed they are being singled out for punishment as they protest the fines levelled against them by the country’s regulatory authority.

Last week, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) fined Jah Oil nearly one million dalasis for “illegally constructing petrol stations in Kairaba Avenue and Wellingara” and issued a two-week ultimatum for the payment. 

Jah Oil managing director Momodou Hydara said they would be challenging the fines. 

“We’ve wrote a protest letter to PURA, protesting their enforcement and at the same time we’ve also wrote a letter to the Ministry of Petroleum to inquire into this matter. 

“Because the way we see it we are a victim of PURA. A company that’s just [being] targeted.”

“When you look around as journalists, go and do your findings, you will see that all the petrol stations are operating and they’re not in compliance with that 50 metres rule they’re hitting us with. 

“And then the question we’re asking them is that let them give us a fair answer. Why us and why us now,” Mr Hydara queried. 

Reporting by Adama Makasuba