By Kofi Akordor
FOR three days, from Monday, February 25, 2008 to Wednesday, February 27, 2008, the country hosted a forum on oil and gas in readiness for Ghana’s oil boom. It was addressed by very prominent Ghanaians and outsiders who are very conversant with the oil industry. They included Mr Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes, the Speaker of Parliament; Odeneho Gyapong Ababio, the President of the National House of Chiefs; Nana Dr S.K.B. Asante, the Chairman of the Ghana Arbitration Centre, and Ms Joyce Aryee, the President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines.
Since the announcement of the discovery of oil in large quantities was made last year, the country has been gripped in some kind of excitement. Some may argue that we are being over-enthusiastic or rushing too much about the whole thing. But can we afford not to?
First, in the past we failed to utilise the vast wealth generated from our natural resources such as timber, gold, diamond and cocoa for any meaningful national development. The greater part of this wealth has gone to expatriate companies and their corrupt political collaborators. Whatever entered the national coffers was generally misused, misapplied or mismanaged. In short, we should have gone farther than where we are today with the resources at our disposal, without necessarily waiting for an oil discovery.
The discovery of oil in large volumes was seen by many as a second chance and, therefore, the nation must be on red alert to ensure that this time we are not rendered the losers. We know oil means wealth, but when its production, distribution and revenue management fall into the wrong hands, the result will be death.
Ghana also has the fine opportunity of learning from the mistakes of other countries who made their oil discovery a gloom instead of a boom and to avoid the pitfalls associated with uncontrolled massive inflow of oil cash.
For the three days, speaker after speaker hammered almost on the same things. They all stressed the need for transparency in all things connected with the oil business — from the signing of oil drilling agreements to the equitable sharing of the money accruing from the sale of the oil.
They also stressed the need for vigilance. Oil business is not as straight as people would want it. At every turn there are bottlenecks, corrupt politicians, corporate vampires and downright crooks, all scheming to harvest undue profit or make illegal money. The giant multinational oil companies have a way of siphoning oil wealth from producing countries, especially where these countries have very little knowledge in oil technology and the complexities associated with the oil and gas business. When these oil companies find accommodation with corrupt politicians, then oil becomes a curse, instead of a blessing.
From far away Norway, its Minister of Environment and International Development, Mr Erik Solheim, warned the government about the type of agreements it entered into with oil companies so that the country could derive full benefits from the oil discovery. He even went further to suggest the setting up of a special tax to take care of education, health and other priority areas. Towards that direction, Ms Aryee also cautioned against the mistakes of the past which made it impossible for the nation to derive maximum benefits from its mineral wealth.
Another important issue dwelt on was fairness. The sharing of royalties from the exploitation of every natural resource is always a contentious issue. It is because the royalties are not considered adequate enough, there are different claimants to such royalties or they are misused by traditional and local authorities.
In Ghana, we are not going to run from some of these conflicts, no matter how hard we try. Already, some prominent people in the Nzema area of the Western Region, including three Members of Parliament have started agitating for the proper demarcation of the geographical location of the oil find, obviously in readiness for the expected royalty windfalls. That is an indication that sooner than later, there will be agitation from some traditional authorities pressing for royalties and so the earlier we gird our loins to confront the realities on the ground, the better.
Apart from the sharing of royalties, communities close to the drilling operations need to have their fair share of development projects. The story of Obuasi and other mining towns is very pathetic, taking into consideration the wealth that these communities have generated for the comfort of others far away from the pollution and environmental hazards left behind through mining activities.
The conflict in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria is mainly the result of the neglect and squalor the communities in those areas have to suffer because of drilling operations. The tendency of investing all our national wealth in Accra and a few towns, at the expense of the rest of the country, should be discarded and a holistic approach adopted. The first beneficiaries of a new development strategy should, of course, be the communities who are going to face the side effects of the oil operations.
Oil and gas are both very volatile. Like electricity, they can give us light and energy, which are essential for human survival. But that is when they are used positively. As to whether this oil discovery is going to be a blessing or a curse is a choice we have to make as a nation.
For the records
In last week’s Kofi Annan proves a point, we published that the date for Kenya’s controversial polls was December 27, 2008. The actual date was December 27, 2007. The error is regretted.
kofiakordor.blogspot.com
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
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