Oil Probe and its Business Stifling Effect

Ghana, Oh Ghana. It was believed if any African country had the capability to evade the so-called “oil curse,” Ghana would be that country. How wrong that was. Events leading into, and surrounding our oil discovery, and the government’s handling of the parties involved leave much to be desired such that we in the Diaspora who aspire to encourage our business contacts to consider Ghana as a haven for investment are left wondering if it is worth the effort. And considering that cocoa was brought to Ghana from abroad by a member of the Ghanaian Diaspora, and most if not all major investment initiatives of significance were initiated into the country via the effort of members of the Ghanaian Diaspora, only God knows how others would be encouraged to lead such efforts in the future.

For sure if members of this EO group engaged in illegal activities, the Diaspora Business Council (DBC) would be the first in line calling for investigation and subsequent prosecution. That, however, appears not to be the case. Our inside sources confirm that investigations into the activities of the EO group began in January of 2009. Back then the focus of the investigation was to find a link between the EO Group and former president Kufuor. That did not pan out.

Our source at the CID Headquarters revealed on condition of anonymity that following an invitation to the CID Headquarters last year, George Owusu, one of the EO partners was whisked back to his residence, then to his office where extensive search was conducted. This was a surprise search. To date, there has been no mention of what was discovered from these searches. Dr. Bawuah-Edusei, on his part, was audited extensively at the end of his tenure as Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States. Again nothing irregular was discovered.

Next, the focus shifted to the issue on conflict of interest. Claims put out by the government that Dr. Bawuah-Edusei was a government official while he negotiated a deal for his personal gain turned out to be inaccurate according to the dates on the oil agreement and the date Dr. Bawuah-Edusei was appointed Ghana’s Ambassador to Geneva. In all, the government began with 28 potential charges in an attempt to throw literally the book at them. Those 28 potential charges have now dropped to possibly three very weak ones. 

Another attempt to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians is that claims were put out that Ghana (22 million people) has only 10% whereas the EO Group (two people) has 3.5%, and that this is evidence that the agreement was too sweet a deal. First, Ghana does in fact have in excess of 50% dividend, including taxes and royalties, an industry standard. Second, the Diaspora Business Council has members who have led similar deals into other African countries where their sweat equity was up to 5%. Third, but for the efforts of the EO Group, Ghana would have ZERO percent because Ghana was not a known oil destination and explorers shunned her.

These endless probes are beginning to adversely impact Ghana’s investment potential. Already, BP has pulled out of negotiations to buy Kosmos’ stake privately citing the current business atmosphere as a determining factor. Additionally, many oil services companies that were eager to come to Ghana at the advent of the oil discovery are beginning to hesitate because they deem Ghana as business-unfriendly.

Furthermore, these endless probes have pushed back the potential target date for oil production. First, the government kept assuring Ghanaians that the targets would be met. Then just yesterday, the government came out stating that it would not be rushed into oil production. Based on information reaching DBC, it is highly unlikely that the original target date for oil production of October, 2010 would be met because valuable time and resources are invested to make sure that some Ghanaians are denied what is legitimately due to them.

The aspect of these probes that is of most importance to DBC is how discouraging it is to us – members of the Diaspora. For years, Ghana has been crying about brain drain, and how we left the country with our brains. When we avail our brains in the form of suggestions, we are told they would not work. When we avail ourselves by returning home, we are given all kinds of problems, including being targets of armed robbery. Now we are discovering that when we make the necessary sacrifices to lead business to Ghana, we become targets of endless investigations while the companies we bring in are left alone.

We would like to think all these inquires and harassment have nothing to do with politics and personal vindictiveness, but sadly that is what it is. But if we were to become a nation that allows politics and individual hatred and greed cloud our thinking then we ought to be prepared to settle for less. The reality is that these two gentlemen are being treated this way because they are seen as affiliated with NPP, well if so, does it mean we as a society want to set a standard that if you are interested in politics at any level, you should not be interested in business as well? This does not only represent a backward thought but it is even dangerous since I believe some NDC affiliates are going to have some business opportunities during their tenure, which DBC finds nothing wrong with that, but we do not wish to see all those businesses vanish when NPP comes to power next time, and believe it NDC will not rule Ghana forever. This is not a way to grow our economy and to develop our country. It is therefore, important for all Ghanaians both home and abroad regardless of political tilt to call on those setting our nation on such a dangerous course to desist or be stop in their tracks. We came very far from that socialist and militant stance in the past eight years and we should never allow the clock to be reset by those who have never understood that free market system rather than government control is the way to create wealth for all. 

We may have left Ghana to live abroad, but our umbilical cords are not broken. We would not be treated like outsiders in our own country. Some of us have visited Ghana with foreigners who work for us abroad, but when we arrived in Ghana, those foreigners (our employees) were embraced more than we were. That slave mentality must stop. As many developing countries are encouraging serious participation of their nationals in business, we cannot afford to send such a discouraging signal to Ghanaians living abroad. Local content participation should be one of the main pillars for our future economic development and every effort has to be made by the government to encourage that. Brazil which is slated as being one of the countries to become an economic power in the next decade has made a commitment of encouraging local content to develop human capacity and retain capital in the country. 

One simple irony about  this EO Group unfair treatment is that, if the group had been made up of a couple of Lebanese, Indians or European guys the government would have hailed them and treated them with the outmost respect for having brought such a huge opportunity to the country. It is shameful and a pity that we are doing this to one of our own. Diaspora Business Council will continue to monitor this story as it unfolds and we entreat all Ghanaians to join in this all important national conversation to stop those short sighted individuals whose motivation has nothing to do with national interest but everything to do with hate, envy and personal vindictiveness.

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