|
Government to freeze oil licences
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, Dec 15, Ghanadot - Leaders of the
across-section of the various political
divide in Ghana’s Parliament have appealed
to the government to freeze the issuance of
new licences for oil production until an
appropriate regulatory framework has been
determined by the legislators.
Document available to the Ghanadot has
disclosed that about 41 companies are said
to have applied to the Ghana National
Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) for rights to
participate in the country’s crude oil trade
from next year.
The political parties, represented by Mr S.
P. Adamu of the National Democratic Congress
(NDC), Mr. O.B. Amoah of the New Patriotic
Party (NPP), Alhaji Ahmed Ramadan of the
People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Ladi
Nylander of the Convention People’s Party (CPP),
and the Parliamentary Subcommittee on Mines
and Energy, represented by Mr Ernest Yakah,
based their call on the grounds that the
country was ill-prepared to derive maximum
benefit from the oil find.
They argued that less than one year before
the drilling of the country’s oil in
commercial quantities, there was not a
single law before Parliament on how the
country would manage the oil fields and the
expected revenue as well as how to ensure
that the environment was not damaged by the
companies.
These serious issues on the country’s
preparedness for the oil boom are contained
in a communiqué signed by Members of the
Parliament Affairs (IEA) on the theme:
“Politics of Oil”, for political party
leaders and parliamentarians.
Their view is corroborated by a member of
the World Bank Extractive Industries
Advisory Committee and Co-ordinator of
ISODEC, Dr Steve Manteaw.
According to the communiqué, oversight
institutions such as Parliament, the
commission on Human Rights and
Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), the Serious
Fraud Office (SFO), the Ghana Armed Forces
and the Police were all not in the position
currently to play their effective roles
during the oil boom.
It also cautioned against over reliance on
the find. “To avoid the resource curse and
minimize the ‘Dutch Disease’ effect, the
government must diversify the country by
investing in agriculture, agro-processing
and manufacturing,” it pointed out, and
urged the government to continue to rely on
tax revenue for development financing in
order to maintain the social contract that
existed between the state and its citizens
and in that respect the capacity of the tax
revenue agencies needed to be strengthened.
It also suggested that the government should
pursue a sustainable income strategy in
which 80 per cent of the revenue from the
oil would be used annually to address the
physical and social infrastructure needs of
the country, with 10 per cent saved in a
fund for future generations and 10 per cent
put in a budget stabilization fund.
Ghanadot
|
