OPEN LETTER TO SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT: FORMAL REQUEST FOR SPEAKER’S FORUM AS FINAL ARBITER

From: Prof Lungu / GIGS/ FTOS-ANON /GUNA /GhanaHero.com

8TH MARCH, 2016
THE SPEAKER OF PARLIAMENT
PARLIAMENT OF GHANA
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
ACCRA.

SUBJ: Part II RESPONSE TO PETROLEUM COMMISSION OVERVIEW: GHANA OIL AND GAS FISCAL REGIME - CLARIFICATION MEETING WITH PARLIAMENT FORMAL REQUEST FOR SPEAKER’S FORUM AS FINAL ARBITER

Dear Sir,
Please enclosed is the Part II response by the Fair Trade Oil Share Campaign Team to the above mentioned for your perusal.

In a paper titled from Concession to Service Contracts by Ernest E. Smith in Tulsa Law Review Vol. 27 Issue 4 International Law Symposium 1992, Modern Concession (Same as Hybrid System) Contracts are alleged to be subject to undue influences and corruption. We have no doubt in our minds that, that is exactly what is happening in Ghana. Contents in Page 7 of the Response is a pointer to and tip of the iceberg of what is happening and what happened in the past.

From 2008, the World Bank, Oxfam America, Natural Resource Governance Institute and Star Ghana had earlier disbursed tens of millions of dollars to Labour Organisations, NGOs, Think Tanks such as ACEP, IEA, IMANI, ISODEC, CSO Platform on oil and gas and Journalist Associations in the country to influence and prepare the grounds for the passage of this exploitative Petroleum Bill.

Tullow spent US$669 million in 2012 alone to buy the silence and conscience of Ghanaians across every sector of the society in the name of corporate social responsibility to make sure nothing negative came up in the public domain and to prepare the grounds for smooth sail of the Petroleum Bill through Parliament.

DFID only took over as funding agency from 2014 when the World Bank, Oxfam America and Star Ghana announced that their budgets were exhausted at a workshop on 28th May, 2014 at the World Bank Office and to announce that their programme has ended and were confident the Petroleum Bill would be passed before the year 2014 ended. They advised that the Think Tank Groups, the Civil Society Organisations and NGOs should look for funding from elsewhere to sustain the campaign.

These Think Tank groups, the NGOs and the CSOs have misled, misinformed and brainwashed every sector of the Ghanaian Public including Parliament to believe that what Ghana is doing is the best that can be achieved, through organising of residential workshops. Participants come out believing Ghana is doing well not knowing their fellow Ghanaians have been hired and paid to intellectually brainwash and to deceive them.

Officials of GNPC, Petroleum Commission, Ministry of Petroleum and PIAC who should know best are part of this international conspiracy against their own country because of tens of thousands of free dollars that come their way from the foreign oil companies and their home governments’ institutions. We are aware some members of Parliament are part of this conspiracy against Ghana.

From the foregoing, one does not expect these Think Tank groups, NGOs ,the CSOs and State Officials to support the PSA, but to oppose it, churning out high percentages of unknown tax revenues into the air to say the Hybrid System is a better option.

Once again, we believe the Speaker’s Forum should be the final arbiter on this very important National issue/ Debate. We therefore urge you to initiate the Speaker’s Forum by bringing all opposing groups before the major stakeholders of this country to make presentations to prove beyond all reasonable doubts their positions and to come out with absolute total estimated revenue figures from the Jubilee Fields as a test case for adoption of PSA to regulate the Upstream oil industry in the country.

The World Bank and IMF have projected US$ 19.390 billion and US$ 20.269 billion respectively that would accrue to Ghana when the field is exhausted in 20yrs under the Hybrid System. We have projected under PSA, Ghana in 15yrs exclusive Corporate Taxes and Participating Interest could earn:
(1) Profit Oil only US$ 26.115 billion
(2) Royalty and Profit Oil US$ 27.210 billion.

The Petroleum Commission, The Ministry of Petroleum, and their supporters ACEP, NRGI and KITE should be able to tell Ghanaians whether their projections are higher than that of the World Bank, IMF and GIGS’ projections.

We are ready to prove our case, and the final decision as to which fiscal regime to adopt by Ghana and acceptable to all would be for the Speaker’s Forum to take to close the matter. We must remember we are dealing with the future of generations yet unborn as well as the present.

We have lost on Gold; we cannot afford to lose this time round on the “Black Gold”.

Note: The Bill should stay until the Speaker’s Forum is held.

Yours in the service of Ghana

………signed…………………//\\.............
Solomon Kwawukume / Prof Lungu
(0246449104)

Cc: The Chairman, Select Committee on Mines & Energy.
The Chairman, Select Committee on Finance.
The Majority Leader
The Minority Leader
The Majority Chief Whip
The Minority Chief Whip
The Ranking Member, Select Committee on Finance


Enclosure:
1. Part II Response To “Petroleum Commission Overview: Ghana Oil and Gas Fiscal Regime Clarification Meeting With Parliament” (Dated 20 Feb 16) - PowerPoint / PowerPoint Slide Show. (Also, see at www.ghanahero.com/FTOS-GH/Campaign_Status_Updates/Letters-FTOS-PSA/FTOS-Gh-Response-Part_2-FINAL.pdf).


FTOS-Gh Interest Items:
1. Fair-Trade Oil Share-Ghana (FTOS-GH/PSA Petition/Campaign):
Read about it, join it, sign it: https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa).

2. http://www.GhanaHero.Com/FTOS_Gh_Campaign for more information.
(Join the action! Read mo! Listen mo! See mo! Reflect mo!).
Prof Lungu / GIGS /ANON / GUNA / FTOS-Gh/PSA /
©Prof Lungu is Ghana-Centered/Ghana-Proud.
@professorlungu - Twitter ( #FTOS_Gh)
hybridm6@gmail.com
Brought to you in Public Service, by Prof Lungu and Associates/GIGS, courtesy www.GhanaHero.com©8 March, 2016.



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Please go and sign the petition:

https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa