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K. T. "Hybrid" Hammond
is Scared FOIB Will Lead to Ghana's Lost $6 Billion-plus Oil
Cash?(2)
By: Prof Lungu
September 24, 2016
"... Member of
parliament Kobina Tahir Hammond...called the Freedom of
Information (FOI) bill a minefield, cautioning MPs: 'We must
be very, very conscious as a nation, extremely conscious.
There can be proper governance without a certain amount of
secrecy...You don’t open up the entire gamut of government
to the prying eye of the entire public'... And, before his
full-throated apology, Lawyer Mr. K. T. "Hybrid" Hammond
jabbed that Dr. Kunbuor's statement was "...the most
disgraceful statement that has ever been made by any member
in (Parliament); it is insulting, it is foolish and should
never be allowed...I ask for the statement to be withdrawn
immediately…Mr. Speaker, I ask for the stupid and useless
and foolish statement to be withdrawn immediately…it is
palpable nonsense...According to the Record from Parliament,
on that day in July, debate on the bill was not completed
because among other reasons......", (Mr. K. T. "Hybrid"
Hammond, as shadowed by Prof Lungu, 10 Sep 16).
To continue....
We must say that if there
ever, ever, has been a "...most disgraceful statement that
has ever, been made by any member in (Parliament), it is
that statement by Lawyer Kobina Takir "Hybrid" Hammond with
the respect to the "prying eye of the entire public" on
matters and interests the "entire public" themselves owe,
fund, and preserve in their own sovereign interest.
LAWYER KOBINA T. "HYBRID" HAMMOND HAS NO LOVE FOR FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION BILL, NEITHER!
Kobina Tahir "Hybrid"
Hammond had the audacity to inform Ghana a couple of months
ago while in Ada, while on the Peoples' dime, that
regardless of what the NDC does, if the NPP comes to power
this election cycle, they, the NPP, will revert back to the
Ghana "Hybrid System", if the NDC does the right thing by
Ghana and adopts Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for
Ghana, same laws used by all progressive countries to accrue
more oil revenues for their countries, ad sovereign owners
of the oil/resource.
Imagine that!
Then there
is the case just 2 days after the initial meeting with GIGS,
on 9 July, earlier. In that case, the Ghana Parliament was
discussing the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill (or as they
weakly call it, the Right to Information (RTI) bill)).
Apparently, if Mr. Hammond, now with the NPP minority
has his way, the FOI bill will never see the light of day.
According to the Record from Parliament, on that day in
July, debate on the bill was not completed because among
other reasons:
"...Member of parliament Kobina Tahir
Hammond...called the bill a minefield, cautioned: 'We must
be very, very conscious as a nation, extremely conscious.
There can be proper governance without a certain amount of
secrecy...You don’t open up the entire gamut of government
to the prying eye of the entire public'...".
To that
Hammond bewildering "secrecy and conscious as a nation"
statement, MP and Minister for Science and Environment, Mr.
Mahama Ayariga replied that "...it is the time to pass an
RTI law....'I think this country has been cautious enough.
It is rather time for us to courageously move forward when
it comes to the passage of the Right to Information
Bill..(because)...'good governance...underpins our
constitution'...”.
So the other questions for Mr.
Tahir "Hybrid" Hammond are these:
1. What is Mr. Hammond
afraid of?
2. Why is it is a bad thing when "the
prying eye of the entire public" is focused on items the
public buys and pays for? You know, all those oil contracts,
benefits, taxes, liabilities accrued, equipment purchased,
oil cash actually received, etc., by Parliament and Mr.
Hammond, on behalf of the People of Ghana.
Imagine!
Every month "high" public official Mr. Hammond receives
more than GH˘12,000.00, all tax-free, with a catalog of free
benefits (free housing, free staff, free transportation, per
diem, etc), all tax-free. Mr. Hammond does not pay income
tax on all his income and benefits. But it is the Ghanaian
worker who lives in Akatechi, Kofevi, Navrongo, Cape Coast,
Ho, Berekum, Cabo Corso, Ogwa, Kumasi, Tamale, Tema, Bongo,
Karachi, Paga, Kukurantumi, Zvalungu, and all places
in-between earning a whole lot less money, it is they who
actually pay taxes to support Mr. Hammond, Mr. Dagadu, and a
whole heap of them.
Yet, Mr. Hammond wants secrecy
for oil contracts. Mr. Hammond has no love for access to
information held by government by citizens. To boot, Mr.
Hammond wants less money for Ghana, even though the PSA
accrues more money for Ghana, in the medium- to long-term.
So, we ask this simple question of Mr. Kobina T.
"Hybrid" Hammond and the NDC Deputy Minister For Energy and
Petroleum, Mr. Benjamin Dagadu.
QUESTION: If
Texas/USA, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, etc., can have the
"Gold-Standard" Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) that will
over the medium- to long-term pay Ghana billions more in oil
revenues, why can't Ghana have it?
Why resist the
PSA mathematics, logic, science, and symbolism?
Here
is our bottom-line!
We believe that Mr. Kobina Tahir
"Hybrid" Hammond, Mr. Dagadu, Damongo Mutawakilu, and all
those officials in Parliament who support the NPP-contrived
Ghana Hybrid System, or are otherwise silent, ought to sit
up and do right by Ghana without further delays and loss of
oil revenue to Ghana.
Oil, after all, depletes!
We are calling on all of them!
Order!
Order!
Order!
Order!
SOURCES:
1. Ghanaweb. I’m sorry – KT Hammond begs, 7 December, 2013,
(www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/I-m-sorry-KT-Hammond-begs-294396).
3. CitiFMOnline. Don’t sack any Ghanaian technical
staff, Petroleum Ministry warns Tullow, 18th March, 2015,
(www.citifmonline.com/2015/03/18/dont-sack-any-ghanaian-technical-staff-petroleum-ministry-warns-tullow/#sthash.9ZM0JBg7.dpuf).
See Mo', Read Mo'
www.GhanaHero.com/Visions.
Our thanks to the numerous
Fair-Trade Oil Share Ghana (FTSO-Gh) supporters in Ghana and
all over the world who continue to report on the FTOS-Gh
Campaign and Petition.
Subj: K. T. Hybrid Hammond is
Scared FOIB Will Lead to Ghana's Lost $6 Billion-plus Oil
Cash (2)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/professorlungu
Support Fair-Trade Oil Share Ghana Campaign/Petition
https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa/
Brought to you courtesy www.GhanaHero.comİ24 Sep 16. |
