Business (lead) Feb 29/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, has called for a legislation that will make it mandatory for foreign companies working in the oil production areas of the country to source some of their materials from local industries.
“Local industries have to benefit from the oil that we have here and we can only benefit if the local content legislation was passed to compel the foreign companies to source some of their materials from the country”, he said.
Mr Oteng-Gyasi made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra at the just-ended national oil and gas forum in Accra.
The two-day forum, attended by experts in many areas of oil exploration, was organised along four major themes: “Turning Oil and Gas Wealth into Sustainable and Equitable Development”, “Entrenching Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement”, “Effective Management of the Oil and Gas Sector” and “Safeguarding Security and the Environment”.
It was called at the instance of President Kufuor to find ways to manage and use Ghana’s oil after Kosmos Energy and its partners had struck oil in the West Cape Three Points of the Tano Basin of the Western Region of the country.
There had been issues raised concerning local content by some participants when they made their contributions saying that the oil find was a fine opportunity for the local industries to grow into very formidable companies.
According to them although many industries in the country produce high quality products that could be used by the foreign companies in the mining sector, there is no legislation that binds them to source some of their products from the country.
It was against this background that Mr Oteng-Gyasi said the country need not be an island where foreign companies would come with their own materials which they sourced from their countries when most of such materials could have been bought from the country at less cost.
According to him, such a practice prevails in the mining industry and should not be allowed to continue when the various legislations governing the management and use of oil resources in the country get drafted.
“We should not forget about this local content issue because the local communities also need to benefit from the find in their own way”, he added.
Mr Oteng-Gyasi cited Nigeria as an example where he said “that country used to invest about $10 billion annually in the oil sector but virtually nothing went to the local industry in the past”.
He was of the view that the time had come for Ghana to remedy the wrongs of the past. He was hopeful that with the suggestions made from the forum, the government would not turn a blind eye to the various suggestions among which the issue of local content was paramount.
Earlier during his intervention at the forum, the AGI President called for the formulation of a schedule of training programmes for the insurance, banking, manufacturing and other financial sectors of the economy regarding oil and gas.
That, he said, was necessary to position them for good business when production of oil and gas began in the country in earnest.
In the area of joint venture, he said measures needed to be put in place to ensure that such ventures were verifiable and not the types that would allow Ghanaians only to front for foreign companies.
He said issues of such nature must be taken seriously to ensure that Ghana really benefited from the find.
On the AGI itself, he said the association was positioning itself to be able to capitalise fully on the benefits from the find.
He added that some of the experts who spoke but could not exhaust their papers due to time constraints, had been invited to the AGI business forums to share their views with members.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
National policy on water launched
Back (lead) Feb 28/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
A national water policy to guide the country towards achieving sustainable development, management and use of water resources has been launched in Accra.
The launch of the 66-page policy document, which comes at a time of severe water shortages in many parts of the country including urban Accra, is also aimed at improving the present and future health and livelihoods of the people.
The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Tawiah III, who jointly launched the document with the sector minister, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiqque Boniface, said the objectives as outlined in the document would come to naught if pragmatic measures were not taken to ensure its fullest implementation.
According to him, although the implementation would cost some substantial amount of money, the country stood to make savings in the future.
The policy highlights a number of topics such as Water Resources Potential and Utilisation, Development Issues, Obligations and Agreements, Policy Formulation Process and the Guiding Principles to go with them.
On strategic actions, the policy considers areas such as Water Resources Management with focus on Integrated Water Resources Management, Access to Water, Water for Food Security, Water for Non-Consumption and other Uses, Capacity Building and Public Awareness Creation and Finance, among others.
King Tackie Tawiah said: “It equally behoves all of us as patriotic Ghanaians to ensure that we support the government in our ways to ensure the successful implementation of the policy.”
He said water was about the livelihood of all and none could isolate himself or herself from efforts to ensure that water was preserved not only for this generation but for the future as well.
Alhaji Boniface said it was common knowledge that although the water sector had made substantial progress especially in the area of potable water supply to the rural communities and small towns, the same could not be said for the urban and peri-urban areas and more so in the efficient management of the country’s water resources.
“For the past 10 years or more, government has made and published policy statements in various forms that have influenced policy direction, especially leading to the restructuring of the water sector,” the minister said.
Alhaji Boniface enumerated some of the achievements in the past as the establishment of new institutions such as the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and the Water Resources Commission (WRC), which, among others, have led to new direction and attention that the government accorded the sector.
He said despite these achievements the sector had remained fragmented, lacking coherence in policy formulation for the sector, resulting in the multiplicity of implementation strategies which invariably created more problems than they were intended to solve.
The minister said the preparation of the policy document had also been largely informed by the development agenda driven by the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy paper II and the NEPAD.
He said another essential thrust of the policy was to improve co-ordination and collaboration in the sector to maximise benefits and reduce transaction cost, adding that “in this respect the government, through its various agencies, will follow a sector-wide approach to implementing policies and programmes in the water sector”.
The Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Flemming Bjork Pedersen, for his part, reiterated the issue of implementation because “action speaks louder than words”.
“Let me congratulate the people who have worked hard to prepare the National Water Policy. Now comes the implementation by the Government of Ghana, government agencies, district assemblies, private sector and civil society groups,” he added.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
A national water policy to guide the country towards achieving sustainable development, management and use of water resources has been launched in Accra.
The launch of the 66-page policy document, which comes at a time of severe water shortages in many parts of the country including urban Accra, is also aimed at improving the present and future health and livelihoods of the people.
The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Tawiah III, who jointly launched the document with the sector minister, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiqque Boniface, said the objectives as outlined in the document would come to naught if pragmatic measures were not taken to ensure its fullest implementation.
According to him, although the implementation would cost some substantial amount of money, the country stood to make savings in the future.
The policy highlights a number of topics such as Water Resources Potential and Utilisation, Development Issues, Obligations and Agreements, Policy Formulation Process and the Guiding Principles to go with them.
On strategic actions, the policy considers areas such as Water Resources Management with focus on Integrated Water Resources Management, Access to Water, Water for Food Security, Water for Non-Consumption and other Uses, Capacity Building and Public Awareness Creation and Finance, among others.
King Tackie Tawiah said: “It equally behoves all of us as patriotic Ghanaians to ensure that we support the government in our ways to ensure the successful implementation of the policy.”
He said water was about the livelihood of all and none could isolate himself or herself from efforts to ensure that water was preserved not only for this generation but for the future as well.
Alhaji Boniface said it was common knowledge that although the water sector had made substantial progress especially in the area of potable water supply to the rural communities and small towns, the same could not be said for the urban and peri-urban areas and more so in the efficient management of the country’s water resources.
“For the past 10 years or more, government has made and published policy statements in various forms that have influenced policy direction, especially leading to the restructuring of the water sector,” the minister said.
Alhaji Boniface enumerated some of the achievements in the past as the establishment of new institutions such as the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) and the Water Resources Commission (WRC), which, among others, have led to new direction and attention that the government accorded the sector.
He said despite these achievements the sector had remained fragmented, lacking coherence in policy formulation for the sector, resulting in the multiplicity of implementation strategies which invariably created more problems than they were intended to solve.
The minister said the preparation of the policy document had also been largely informed by the development agenda driven by the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy paper II and the NEPAD.
He said another essential thrust of the policy was to improve co-ordination and collaboration in the sector to maximise benefits and reduce transaction cost, adding that “in this respect the government, through its various agencies, will follow a sector-wide approach to implementing policies and programmes in the water sector”.
The Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Flemming Bjork Pedersen, for his part, reiterated the issue of implementation because “action speaks louder than words”.
“Let me congratulate the people who have worked hard to prepare the National Water Policy. Now comes the implementation by the Government of Ghana, government agencies, district assemblies, private sector and civil society groups,” he added.
Govt will keep eye on oil production
Spread (lead) Feb 28/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE government has given the assurance that it will keep “an eagle’s eye” on Ghana’s oil when production begins in the country to ensure that the country benefits fully from the find.
It has also promised to fashion out pragmatic and prudent policies to ensure equity in the use of proceeds from the oil production.
The Chief Advisor to the President, Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, gave the assurances when she drew the curtain on the first-ever National Oil and Gas Forum in Accra on Tuesday night.
Her comments followed assurances by the management of Kosmos Energy that the first draw of the country’s ‘black gold’ would happen in the middle of next year following intensive exploration activities in the company’s area of operation.
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said after listening to the various suggestions, experiences and contributions from participants from different backgrounds at the forum, the government was poised to ensure transparency and accountability in all its dealings with regard to all manner of negotiations with foreign and local companies and award of contracts to the satisfaction of all.
She said the government was still open to frank ideas and realistic suggestions from Ghanaians as to how the country’s new treasure should be managed to make it a blessing and not a curse.
The two-day forum, attended by experts in many areas of oil exploration, was organised along four major themes: “Turning Oil and Gas Wealth into Sustainable and Equitable Development”, “Entrenching Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement”, “Effective Management of the Oil and Gas Sector” and “Safeguarding Security and the Environment”.
“We have known from this forum that we have Ghanaian experts all over the world in the area of oil exploration, management and use and we will develop a database on all of them,” she said.
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said evolving policies and programmes and the management of the oil should be the Ghanaian way, based on lessons from those countries that already had the resource.
“We are not going to act slavishly with what we do with the oil. It is ours and we will make sure that we derive the maximum benefit from it,” the Presidential Chief Advisor said.
She, however, cautioned that in all the dealings, “we should also bear in mind that in whatever we do with this find, we do not forget the future generations,” Mrs Chinery-Hesse added.
She said the find should not be a recipe for social anarchy and degradation but one that would benefit the present and future generations and called on Parliament to be the watchdog over the oil by ensuring that bills on its management and use were discussed dispassionately and non politically before they were passed in the supreme interest of the state.
The Chief Executive of the Ghana National Chamber of Mines, Ms Joyce Aryee, for her part, cautioned against the mistakes that had denied the country its due from other mineral resources.
Her caution came in the wake of worries expressed by some of the participants to the effect that Ghana had not benefited from its large deposits of gold and other minerals.
They argued that in many of the areas where gold, one of the most expensive and revered minerals in the world, was mined, the people had been left in abject poverty, while their land which they relied on for farming had been degraded.
Ms Aryee said the oil should be a turning point in the life of the country, saying that as the mistakes in the use and management of those resources are corrected, “we are sure to derive the maximum benefits”.
She said the oil should also open up the economy to create more employment opportunities for the people, adding that it should also lead to massive infrastructural development in the road and rail sectors, while the telecommunication and salt industries will also benefit.
Speaking on maritime challenges to the oil and gas discovery, Mr Kofi Mbeah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers’ Council, said four critical things, namely, construction, drilling, storage and transportation of the product, involved in the exploitation of oil and gas raised issues for the maritime sector.
He said what was key was how to manage the ‘sea use conflict’ that arose with respect to the exploitation of the living resources of the area, navigation and over flight, marine scientific research, the laying of submarine cables in the midst of all the other activities related to the exploitation activities
Mr Mbeah called for the deployment of modern Information Technology-based security systems to be able to secure the entire area where the production was expected to take place.
He also called for maintenance and repair facilities at the ports for oil rigs and vessels carrying oil and gas, since one could anticipate a high number of tankers, which would mean a high number of breakdowns and repairs.
The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Tawiah III, for his part, called for a strong political will to ensure that the oil and gas to be produced in the country would further enhance the development of the country.
He said it was also crucial for the government to ensure that the area of production was well secured to prevent suspicious characters from interfering in the affairs of the companies to be allocated blocks within the Cape Three Points area.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE government has given the assurance that it will keep “an eagle’s eye” on Ghana’s oil when production begins in the country to ensure that the country benefits fully from the find.
It has also promised to fashion out pragmatic and prudent policies to ensure equity in the use of proceeds from the oil production.
The Chief Advisor to the President, Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, gave the assurances when she drew the curtain on the first-ever National Oil and Gas Forum in Accra on Tuesday night.
Her comments followed assurances by the management of Kosmos Energy that the first draw of the country’s ‘black gold’ would happen in the middle of next year following intensive exploration activities in the company’s area of operation.
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said after listening to the various suggestions, experiences and contributions from participants from different backgrounds at the forum, the government was poised to ensure transparency and accountability in all its dealings with regard to all manner of negotiations with foreign and local companies and award of contracts to the satisfaction of all.
She said the government was still open to frank ideas and realistic suggestions from Ghanaians as to how the country’s new treasure should be managed to make it a blessing and not a curse.
The two-day forum, attended by experts in many areas of oil exploration, was organised along four major themes: “Turning Oil and Gas Wealth into Sustainable and Equitable Development”, “Entrenching Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement”, “Effective Management of the Oil and Gas Sector” and “Safeguarding Security and the Environment”.
“We have known from this forum that we have Ghanaian experts all over the world in the area of oil exploration, management and use and we will develop a database on all of them,” she said.
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said evolving policies and programmes and the management of the oil should be the Ghanaian way, based on lessons from those countries that already had the resource.
“We are not going to act slavishly with what we do with the oil. It is ours and we will make sure that we derive the maximum benefit from it,” the Presidential Chief Advisor said.
She, however, cautioned that in all the dealings, “we should also bear in mind that in whatever we do with this find, we do not forget the future generations,” Mrs Chinery-Hesse added.
She said the find should not be a recipe for social anarchy and degradation but one that would benefit the present and future generations and called on Parliament to be the watchdog over the oil by ensuring that bills on its management and use were discussed dispassionately and non politically before they were passed in the supreme interest of the state.
The Chief Executive of the Ghana National Chamber of Mines, Ms Joyce Aryee, for her part, cautioned against the mistakes that had denied the country its due from other mineral resources.
Her caution came in the wake of worries expressed by some of the participants to the effect that Ghana had not benefited from its large deposits of gold and other minerals.
They argued that in many of the areas where gold, one of the most expensive and revered minerals in the world, was mined, the people had been left in abject poverty, while their land which they relied on for farming had been degraded.
Ms Aryee said the oil should be a turning point in the life of the country, saying that as the mistakes in the use and management of those resources are corrected, “we are sure to derive the maximum benefits”.
She said the oil should also open up the economy to create more employment opportunities for the people, adding that it should also lead to massive infrastructural development in the road and rail sectors, while the telecommunication and salt industries will also benefit.
Speaking on maritime challenges to the oil and gas discovery, Mr Kofi Mbeah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers’ Council, said four critical things, namely, construction, drilling, storage and transportation of the product, involved in the exploitation of oil and gas raised issues for the maritime sector.
He said what was key was how to manage the ‘sea use conflict’ that arose with respect to the exploitation of the living resources of the area, navigation and over flight, marine scientific research, the laying of submarine cables in the midst of all the other activities related to the exploitation activities
Mr Mbeah called for the deployment of modern Information Technology-based security systems to be able to secure the entire area where the production was expected to take place.
He also called for maintenance and repair facilities at the ports for oil rigs and vessels carrying oil and gas, since one could anticipate a high number of tankers, which would mean a high number of breakdowns and repairs.
The Ga Mantse, King Tackie Tawiah III, for his part, called for a strong political will to ensure that the oil and gas to be produced in the country would further enhance the development of the country.
He said it was also crucial for the government to ensure that the area of production was well secured to prevent suspicious characters from interfering in the affairs of the companies to be allocated blocks within the Cape Three Points area.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Ghana to get more from oil revenue
Page 34 (lead) Feb 27/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
Ghana will obtain far more than half of the profits to be generated from any oil and gas produced in any concession in the country, Mr Moses Boateng, the Managing Director of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), has indicated.
It is, therefore, not correct to suggest that Ghana will be entitled to only 10 per cent of the profits, while the foreign companies take the rest.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic on concerns raised by a section of the Ghanaian public that the country would benefit from only 10 per cent of the total profits when the full production of oil and gas began in earnest, Mr Boateng said many other commitments, as mentioned on the part of the companies drilling the oil, would boost what the country was entitled to.
He explained that royalties, carried and paying interests, income tax and additional oil entitlements to be paid by the oil companies were all sources from which the government would benefit from the oil and gas production and asked Ghanaians to disabuse their minds of the fact that the country was only entitled to a mere 10 per cent of the profits.
He also noted that unlike the foreign companies, Ghana’s money would be risk free.
Mr Boateng made the clarification shortly after he had made a presentation at the ongoing National Forum on Oil and Gas Development called at the instance of the government to find ways of deriving maximum benefits from the oil find in the country and also ensuring that the discovery was a blessing and not a curse.
He said the mathematics of the benefits that would accrue to Ghana was based on laid down laws in the industry and Ghanaians had nothing to worry about.
“The country will not lose from this business because the laid down procedures and laws are in place and we will go by them to ensure that Ghana benefits fully from the find,” he said.
On concerns that although Ghana was endowed with lots of gold, only an insignificant percentage of the proceeds came to the state, a fate that the country’s oil find would suffer, Mr Boateng gave the assurance that what was due the state would be collected appropriately.
During his presentation, he said there was the need for an upward review of the taxes and royalties to be paid by the oil drilling companies.
“In the past, when Ghana was declared a high risk area in terms of oil exploration, the taxes and royalties were low, but now that we have found the oil here, it is no more so and we need to charge more,” he added.
Mr Boateng said the GNPC was also considering increasing its take by negotiating upwards the percentages of paying interests to about 10 per cent, in addition to the royalty and carried interest.
On the future of exploration and production of oil in the country, he said the GNPC was targeting about $10 billion in upstream foreign direct investment by 2012 but noted that “this can be achieved only through aggressive promotion of the hydrocarbon potential and the opportunities generated as a result of the recent oil discoveries”.
Mr Boateng said the human resource of every company was key to the realisation of its corporate objectives and so the corporation intended to aggressively recruit and train its staff to meet the enormous challenges in the oil industry in view of the recent discoveries.
He said the GNPC had also adopted what he described as the ‘zero flaring of gas’ so that the gas produced would have to be injected into the reservoir until the country had put in place the necessary infrastructure to utilise it.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, who chaired one of the panel discussions, said the government was taking note of the various concerns, suggestions and inputs being made at the forum and pledged that all efforts would be made to ensure that care was taken to fully utilise the benefits of the find to the satisfaction of all Ghanaians.
He said the government called the forum because it wanted to share ideas from a broad spectrum of society, countries that had benefited positively and those which had also benefited negatively from oil discoveries so that any move by the government would be based on informed position.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Paul Acquah, said financial proceeds from oil could easily derail the macro-economic stability of the country.
He indicated that the bank was resolved to ensure that in the face of many in terms of money from the find, the macro-economic environment was adequately protected against any shocks.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
Ghana will obtain far more than half of the profits to be generated from any oil and gas produced in any concession in the country, Mr Moses Boateng, the Managing Director of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), has indicated.
It is, therefore, not correct to suggest that Ghana will be entitled to only 10 per cent of the profits, while the foreign companies take the rest.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic on concerns raised by a section of the Ghanaian public that the country would benefit from only 10 per cent of the total profits when the full production of oil and gas began in earnest, Mr Boateng said many other commitments, as mentioned on the part of the companies drilling the oil, would boost what the country was entitled to.
He explained that royalties, carried and paying interests, income tax and additional oil entitlements to be paid by the oil companies were all sources from which the government would benefit from the oil and gas production and asked Ghanaians to disabuse their minds of the fact that the country was only entitled to a mere 10 per cent of the profits.
He also noted that unlike the foreign companies, Ghana’s money would be risk free.
Mr Boateng made the clarification shortly after he had made a presentation at the ongoing National Forum on Oil and Gas Development called at the instance of the government to find ways of deriving maximum benefits from the oil find in the country and also ensuring that the discovery was a blessing and not a curse.
He said the mathematics of the benefits that would accrue to Ghana was based on laid down laws in the industry and Ghanaians had nothing to worry about.
“The country will not lose from this business because the laid down procedures and laws are in place and we will go by them to ensure that Ghana benefits fully from the find,” he said.
On concerns that although Ghana was endowed with lots of gold, only an insignificant percentage of the proceeds came to the state, a fate that the country’s oil find would suffer, Mr Boateng gave the assurance that what was due the state would be collected appropriately.
During his presentation, he said there was the need for an upward review of the taxes and royalties to be paid by the oil drilling companies.
“In the past, when Ghana was declared a high risk area in terms of oil exploration, the taxes and royalties were low, but now that we have found the oil here, it is no more so and we need to charge more,” he added.
Mr Boateng said the GNPC was also considering increasing its take by negotiating upwards the percentages of paying interests to about 10 per cent, in addition to the royalty and carried interest.
On the future of exploration and production of oil in the country, he said the GNPC was targeting about $10 billion in upstream foreign direct investment by 2012 but noted that “this can be achieved only through aggressive promotion of the hydrocarbon potential and the opportunities generated as a result of the recent oil discoveries”.
Mr Boateng said the human resource of every company was key to the realisation of its corporate objectives and so the corporation intended to aggressively recruit and train its staff to meet the enormous challenges in the oil industry in view of the recent discoveries.
He said the GNPC had also adopted what he described as the ‘zero flaring of gas’ so that the gas produced would have to be injected into the reservoir until the country had put in place the necessary infrastructure to utilise it.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, who chaired one of the panel discussions, said the government was taking note of the various concerns, suggestions and inputs being made at the forum and pledged that all efforts would be made to ensure that care was taken to fully utilise the benefits of the find to the satisfaction of all Ghanaians.
He said the government called the forum because it wanted to share ideas from a broad spectrum of society, countries that had benefited positively and those which had also benefited negatively from oil discoveries so that any move by the government would be based on informed position.
The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr Paul Acquah, said financial proceeds from oil could easily derail the macro-economic stability of the country.
He indicated that the bank was resolved to ensure that in the face of many in terms of money from the find, the macro-economic environment was adequately protected against any shocks.
OIL • Ensure transparency in use of revenue - Forum
Front (lead) Feb 27/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
SPEAKERS at the National Forum on Oil and Gas Development in the country have called on the government to ensure absolute transparency in the use of the revenue that will accrue from oil production in the country.
Such a step, they said, would prevent agitation that might jeopardise the security of the state.
As Ghana strove to make the oil find a blessing and not a curse, as was the case in some countries in Africa and elsewhere, there was also the need for the government to ensure that its policies and rules governing the revenue and expenditure from the find were institutionalised and not made the property of one political party in government, they stressed.
The speakers, who included the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes; the President of the National House of Chiefs, Odeneho Gyapong Ababio; the Chairman of the Ghana Arbitration Centre, Nana Dr S.K.B. Asante; the Chairman of the Azerbaijan Oil Fund, Mr Shahmar Movsumov, and an oil expert from Nigeria, Mr Bright Okogu, were sharing their thoughts and experiences regarding oil production and how best proceeds from it could be judiciously used to benefit present and future generations.
The two-day forum, attended by experts in many areas of oil exploration, was organised along four major themes: “Turning Oil and Gas Wealth into Sustainable and Equitable Development”, “Entrenching Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement”, “Effective Management of the Oil and Gas Sector” and “Safeguarding Security and the Environment”.
Experts say the forum is a major move in the oil exploration activities in Ghana which began in the late 1890s.
The speakers also advocated the setting up of savings and development funds into which money accruing from oil production would be saved for the future generation and the other used to undertake projects that would benefit the entire nation.
The speakers cited the lack of transparency and accountability in oil producing countries as one of the reasons for the “oil curse”, particularly in Africa.
Kosmos Energy struck new volumes of what has been described as high quality crude oil in the deep waters of the Western Region of Ghana at the weekend.
The find was made in Odum-1, the latest well to be drilled by the company, barely six months after it had moved from the Mahogany-1 Well in the last quarter of last year.
Mr Sekyi Hughes said the accountability of the proceeds was crucial if the country was to ensure equity and balance in the sharing of what would accrue from the find.
He called on civil society to play a watchdog role to ensure that nothing went wrong with the money to be derived from the oil.
“The blessings we aspire from the find should be in the form of good schools, hospitals, roads and telecommunications infrastructure in every community of the country,” Mr Sekyi Hughes stated.
He added that it behoved the government to ensure that all manner of corrupt practices that would spark trouble as far as the revenue and expenditure from the proceeds were concerned were seriously avoided.
Odeneho Ababio said chiefs in Ghana were delighted at the find and were open for discussions on how best the proceeds could benefit the entire nation.
He said the find should be able to bring jobs to the youth who had no jobs, adding that the setting up of a fund guided by clear institutionalised guidelines was also paramount to ensure the equitable and judicious use of whatever money the country was bound to get.
Nana Dr Asante, who chaired the first part of the discussions, said Ghana had come far and the oil was going to help to accelerate the pace of development in the country.
He noted that the clear message had been the issue of transparency and accountability as far as the proceeds from the find were concerned and expressed the hope that the advice would not be taken for granted.
Mr Movsumov, sharing the experience of his country, said the country bagged up to 80 per cent of the proceeds from the oil production.
He said the issue of transparency had been the hallmark of Azerbaijani’s success and peace as far as the management of the oil proceeds was concerned.
“What accrues is made public, even to the extent that we place it on our website for all to see. We also have institutionalised structures that determine where the money should go and all those are explored and followed to the letter,” he added.
Mr Movsumov said Azerbaijan was still in its development stages and, therefore, the money was put into projects that accelerated development.
For his part, Mr Okogu wondered why Ghanaians were worried about the find being a curse, saying, “If you do not have it, you can say it is a curse that God did not give you any. But this is not the case and, therefore, it should be seen as a blessing.”
He noted that Ghana was lucky to have had the opportunity to discuss how it could use the oil revenue and manage the proceeds when production started but warned that “oil could be a potential for conflicts, massive corruption, entrenched poverty and serious environmental degradation”.
Mr Okogu said Nigeria, even in the wake of high oil prices on the international market, was indebted to the tune of about $35 billion not too long ago.
“We have learnt from our mistakes and we have been able to pay off that debt with the oil proceeds. We are still in the process of ensuring that all the negatives associated with the oil in our country are ironed out and the results are beginning to show,” he added.
Another key issue he raised was the fact that the rules governing the use and management of the oil should be institutionalised and not made what he termed “the property of one political party in power”.
He also mentioned the need for a savings fund, just as was the case in Kuwait, to take care of future generations so that they would have a feel of the find even when it had been fully exhausted.
Sharing the Norwegian experience, the Mr Erik Solhiem, who is in charge of that country’s ministry of Environment and International Development said the proceeds should be carefully managed so that they did not derail the macro-economic stability.
He said no matter the number of funds that were set up, it was crucial to have one budget to ensure a centralised control which could also avoid misuse and corruption.
After all the speakers had focused on what should be done with the proceeds from the find, Osekese Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II, the Paramount Chief of the Sefwi Anhwiaso Traditional Area, voiced out his concern and that of his people, saying, “When we talk about gold and other minerals, cocoa and other agricultural products, the Western Region comes tops. But what have we to show for them?”
“Not this time,” he warned, a comment that changed the faces of the panel, including the Norwegians, Nigerians and Azerbaijani.
“In spite of the massive exploration done which has deprived our people of their arable lands and other property, we have nothing to show for our sacrifices over the years,” he added.
He said the Western Region had the worst road network in the country, noting that it was only a pity that the region should be treated in that manner and reiterated that “this time anything that is promised us should be well documented so that we can hold somebody to it. If that is not done, we will not sit back and watch again”.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
SPEAKERS at the National Forum on Oil and Gas Development in the country have called on the government to ensure absolute transparency in the use of the revenue that will accrue from oil production in the country.
Such a step, they said, would prevent agitation that might jeopardise the security of the state.
As Ghana strove to make the oil find a blessing and not a curse, as was the case in some countries in Africa and elsewhere, there was also the need for the government to ensure that its policies and rules governing the revenue and expenditure from the find were institutionalised and not made the property of one political party in government, they stressed.
The speakers, who included the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Ebenezer Sekyi Hughes; the President of the National House of Chiefs, Odeneho Gyapong Ababio; the Chairman of the Ghana Arbitration Centre, Nana Dr S.K.B. Asante; the Chairman of the Azerbaijan Oil Fund, Mr Shahmar Movsumov, and an oil expert from Nigeria, Mr Bright Okogu, were sharing their thoughts and experiences regarding oil production and how best proceeds from it could be judiciously used to benefit present and future generations.
The two-day forum, attended by experts in many areas of oil exploration, was organised along four major themes: “Turning Oil and Gas Wealth into Sustainable and Equitable Development”, “Entrenching Transparency and Stakeholder Engagement”, “Effective Management of the Oil and Gas Sector” and “Safeguarding Security and the Environment”.
Experts say the forum is a major move in the oil exploration activities in Ghana which began in the late 1890s.
The speakers also advocated the setting up of savings and development funds into which money accruing from oil production would be saved for the future generation and the other used to undertake projects that would benefit the entire nation.
The speakers cited the lack of transparency and accountability in oil producing countries as one of the reasons for the “oil curse”, particularly in Africa.
Kosmos Energy struck new volumes of what has been described as high quality crude oil in the deep waters of the Western Region of Ghana at the weekend.
The find was made in Odum-1, the latest well to be drilled by the company, barely six months after it had moved from the Mahogany-1 Well in the last quarter of last year.
Mr Sekyi Hughes said the accountability of the proceeds was crucial if the country was to ensure equity and balance in the sharing of what would accrue from the find.
He called on civil society to play a watchdog role to ensure that nothing went wrong with the money to be derived from the oil.
“The blessings we aspire from the find should be in the form of good schools, hospitals, roads and telecommunications infrastructure in every community of the country,” Mr Sekyi Hughes stated.
He added that it behoved the government to ensure that all manner of corrupt practices that would spark trouble as far as the revenue and expenditure from the proceeds were concerned were seriously avoided.
Odeneho Ababio said chiefs in Ghana were delighted at the find and were open for discussions on how best the proceeds could benefit the entire nation.
He said the find should be able to bring jobs to the youth who had no jobs, adding that the setting up of a fund guided by clear institutionalised guidelines was also paramount to ensure the equitable and judicious use of whatever money the country was bound to get.
Nana Dr Asante, who chaired the first part of the discussions, said Ghana had come far and the oil was going to help to accelerate the pace of development in the country.
He noted that the clear message had been the issue of transparency and accountability as far as the proceeds from the find were concerned and expressed the hope that the advice would not be taken for granted.
Mr Movsumov, sharing the experience of his country, said the country bagged up to 80 per cent of the proceeds from the oil production.
He said the issue of transparency had been the hallmark of Azerbaijani’s success and peace as far as the management of the oil proceeds was concerned.
“What accrues is made public, even to the extent that we place it on our website for all to see. We also have institutionalised structures that determine where the money should go and all those are explored and followed to the letter,” he added.
Mr Movsumov said Azerbaijan was still in its development stages and, therefore, the money was put into projects that accelerated development.
For his part, Mr Okogu wondered why Ghanaians were worried about the find being a curse, saying, “If you do not have it, you can say it is a curse that God did not give you any. But this is not the case and, therefore, it should be seen as a blessing.”
He noted that Ghana was lucky to have had the opportunity to discuss how it could use the oil revenue and manage the proceeds when production started but warned that “oil could be a potential for conflicts, massive corruption, entrenched poverty and serious environmental degradation”.
Mr Okogu said Nigeria, even in the wake of high oil prices on the international market, was indebted to the tune of about $35 billion not too long ago.
“We have learnt from our mistakes and we have been able to pay off that debt with the oil proceeds. We are still in the process of ensuring that all the negatives associated with the oil in our country are ironed out and the results are beginning to show,” he added.
Another key issue he raised was the fact that the rules governing the use and management of the oil should be institutionalised and not made what he termed “the property of one political party in power”.
He also mentioned the need for a savings fund, just as was the case in Kuwait, to take care of future generations so that they would have a feel of the find even when it had been fully exhausted.
Sharing the Norwegian experience, the Mr Erik Solhiem, who is in charge of that country’s ministry of Environment and International Development said the proceeds should be carefully managed so that they did not derail the macro-economic stability.
He said no matter the number of funds that were set up, it was crucial to have one budget to ensure a centralised control which could also avoid misuse and corruption.
After all the speakers had focused on what should be done with the proceeds from the find, Osekese Ogyeahoho Yaw Gyebi II, the Paramount Chief of the Sefwi Anhwiaso Traditional Area, voiced out his concern and that of his people, saying, “When we talk about gold and other minerals, cocoa and other agricultural products, the Western Region comes tops. But what have we to show for them?”
“Not this time,” he warned, a comment that changed the faces of the panel, including the Norwegians, Nigerians and Azerbaijani.
“In spite of the massive exploration done which has deprived our people of their arable lands and other property, we have nothing to show for our sacrifices over the years,” he added.
He said the Western Region had the worst road network in the country, noting that it was only a pity that the region should be treated in that manner and reiterated that “this time anything that is promised us should be well documented so that we can hold somebody to it. If that is not done, we will not sit back and watch again”.
Parties hail no ROPAL
Front page Feb 26/2008
REPRESENTATIVES of political parties and a democratic institution have described the intention of the Electoral Commission (EC) not to implement the Representation of the People’s (Amendment) Law (ROPAL) during the 2008 elections as welcome news.
The representatives from the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) said the EC’s intention was appropriate, given the controversy, lack of consensus and misgivings that characterised the passage of the law.
Although the representative of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not acknowledge the EC’s comments as welcome news, he indicated that the party had no problem with the commission’s intention.
In the Friday, February 22, 2007 issue of the Daily Graphic, a top official of the EC was reported as saying that the commission could not implement ROPAL during the 2008 elections because it was not adequately prepared in terms of funds and logistics for that exercise.
That was the issue about which the Daily Graphic asked a Fellow of the IDEG, Mr Kwesi Jonah; the National Organiser of the NPP, Mr Lord Commey; the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketia; the General Secretary of the PNC, Mr Bernard Mornah, and the Publicity Committee Chairman of the CPP, Mr Kosi Dedey, for their views.
Mr Asiedu-Nketia said right from the onset, the NDC had made its opposition to ROPAL very clear to all because it did not believe it was an appropriate law, reports Charles Benoni Okine.
He said the party’s strong position against the law informed its constant argument and public demonstrations against it.
When asked what the NDC would do if the EC decided to implement ROPAL, Mr Asiedu-Nketia said, “When we get to the bridge, we’ll cross it.”
On the re-opening of the voters’ register, as announced by the EC, he said the NDC was not aware of it because the commission had not discussed the issue with the party.
Mr Asiedu-Nketia said in the past, the EC and the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) discussed such issues in detail, particularly to ensure that no party had an advantage over others.
He said the parties needed to be well informed on such issues to enable them to plan adequately for the elections, adding that it was unfortunate that the EC made the announcement without recourse to the IPAC.
In his opinion, Mr Mornah said the decision of the EC “is a vindication of our party’s long-term position that ROPAL is an inimical law that should not find space in our political system”, reports Kofi Yeboah.
He said any law that had the potential to bring about chaos and anarchy in the country should not be entertained.
“We are gladdened by the news. The EC has done precisely what society expects it to do,” Mr Mornah remarked, but noted that the EC should have gone further to admonish the government to repeal the law.
That, he said, was to avoid a situation where the commission would be dragged to court so long as the law remained on the statute books.
Although Mr Mornah agreed with a suggestion that taking the EC to court might not necessarily bring judgement in favour of the applicant, he pointed out that the commission could not afford the cost of time with the engagement of “unnecessary litigation”.
The PNC General Secretary said any legal engagement could divide the attention of the EC and that could affect its performance in the elections.
According to him, ROPAL lacked relevance in the country’s political dispensation because it did not take into consideration critical issues such as where to place ballot boxes and cost implications and especially when it portended danger and chaos for the country.
Mr Mornah also suggested a review of the Political Parties Law, 2000 (Act 574) to, among other things, ensure public funding for political parties and revoke the powers granted to the EC to disqualify political parties without facing legal challenge.
For his part, Mr Dedey described the declaration on ROPAL by the EC as “welcome news” because adequate measures had not been put in place for its successful implementation, reports Daniel Nkrumah.
He said the CPP had initially expressed some misgivings on the way ROPAL was rushed through Parliament and called on the EC to come out with a very workable timetable on its implementation.
“Naturally, some of our members abroad will be disappointed, but we need to be provided with a general timetable on its implementation,” he stressed.
Mr Dedey said the implementation of ROPAL would require political parties to mobilise resources to ensure that their branches abroad were well resourced and in a position to serve their interests effectively.
He said the EC needed to provide guidelines for political parties as far as the implementation of ROPAL was concerned to enable the parties to have a better idea of the amount of money or resources they needed in order to get maximum benefits from the implementation of the law.
Mr Dedey stated that education on ROPAL had also not been adequate enough, explaining that, for instance, there was the need to identify the countries that ROPAL would cover and the basis on which those countries were going to be chosen.
He argued that there was no need to rush the passage of the bill into law if the government was not in the position to implement it and cited the Disability Act, which, according to him, was delayed for a long time because the government did not have adequate resources for its effective implementation.
Mr Jonah also described the announcement by the EC as welcome news which was in everybody’s interest, reports Donald Ato Dapatem.
That, he said, was because the initiation of the law to its passage had been characterised by controversy and lack of consensus, adding that the EC had not even completed its report on the familiarisation tours it made recently to countries that practised that law.
Mr Jonah said the implementation of the law also required huge sums of resources which the EC currently did not have.
He said that meant that the EC must tread cautiously and take its time before it would undertake the implementation of the law.
He also called on Ghanaians in the Diaspora to exercise restraint in their demands for the implementation of the law and allow the EC to finish its work.
Making his intervention, Mr Commey said the NPP had no problem with the announcement by the EC that it would not be able to implement ROPAL during the 2008 election.
He said the party had always had a lot of confidence in the EC and its time-tested integrity to come up with the right procedures and other policies to guide the implementation of the law when it was ready.
Mr Commey said the NPP, being a body that adhered to the tenets of the rule of law, had always held the position that ROPAL, which was constitutional, must be applied to the letter, saying that explained the decision of the party to initiate moves to pass the law through the legitimately accepted procedure, Parliament, after broad consultations, both locally and internationally.
He, however, stated that as required by law, the EC must take the decision as to when and how to implement the law.
Asked about his reaction to those who claimed that the party wanted to use the law to rig the 2008 elections, Mr Commey said the government initiated the move to pass the law to empower all Ghanaians to vote, as demanded by the Constitution.
REPRESENTATIVES of political parties and a democratic institution have described the intention of the Electoral Commission (EC) not to implement the Representation of the People’s (Amendment) Law (ROPAL) during the 2008 elections as welcome news.
The representatives from the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the People’s National Convention (PNC) said the EC’s intention was appropriate, given the controversy, lack of consensus and misgivings that characterised the passage of the law.
Although the representative of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) did not acknowledge the EC’s comments as welcome news, he indicated that the party had no problem with the commission’s intention.
In the Friday, February 22, 2007 issue of the Daily Graphic, a top official of the EC was reported as saying that the commission could not implement ROPAL during the 2008 elections because it was not adequately prepared in terms of funds and logistics for that exercise.
That was the issue about which the Daily Graphic asked a Fellow of the IDEG, Mr Kwesi Jonah; the National Organiser of the NPP, Mr Lord Commey; the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketia; the General Secretary of the PNC, Mr Bernard Mornah, and the Publicity Committee Chairman of the CPP, Mr Kosi Dedey, for their views.
Mr Asiedu-Nketia said right from the onset, the NDC had made its opposition to ROPAL very clear to all because it did not believe it was an appropriate law, reports Charles Benoni Okine.
He said the party’s strong position against the law informed its constant argument and public demonstrations against it.
When asked what the NDC would do if the EC decided to implement ROPAL, Mr Asiedu-Nketia said, “When we get to the bridge, we’ll cross it.”
On the re-opening of the voters’ register, as announced by the EC, he said the NDC was not aware of it because the commission had not discussed the issue with the party.
Mr Asiedu-Nketia said in the past, the EC and the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) discussed such issues in detail, particularly to ensure that no party had an advantage over others.
He said the parties needed to be well informed on such issues to enable them to plan adequately for the elections, adding that it was unfortunate that the EC made the announcement without recourse to the IPAC.
In his opinion, Mr Mornah said the decision of the EC “is a vindication of our party’s long-term position that ROPAL is an inimical law that should not find space in our political system”, reports Kofi Yeboah.
He said any law that had the potential to bring about chaos and anarchy in the country should not be entertained.
“We are gladdened by the news. The EC has done precisely what society expects it to do,” Mr Mornah remarked, but noted that the EC should have gone further to admonish the government to repeal the law.
That, he said, was to avoid a situation where the commission would be dragged to court so long as the law remained on the statute books.
Although Mr Mornah agreed with a suggestion that taking the EC to court might not necessarily bring judgement in favour of the applicant, he pointed out that the commission could not afford the cost of time with the engagement of “unnecessary litigation”.
The PNC General Secretary said any legal engagement could divide the attention of the EC and that could affect its performance in the elections.
According to him, ROPAL lacked relevance in the country’s political dispensation because it did not take into consideration critical issues such as where to place ballot boxes and cost implications and especially when it portended danger and chaos for the country.
Mr Mornah also suggested a review of the Political Parties Law, 2000 (Act 574) to, among other things, ensure public funding for political parties and revoke the powers granted to the EC to disqualify political parties without facing legal challenge.
For his part, Mr Dedey described the declaration on ROPAL by the EC as “welcome news” because adequate measures had not been put in place for its successful implementation, reports Daniel Nkrumah.
He said the CPP had initially expressed some misgivings on the way ROPAL was rushed through Parliament and called on the EC to come out with a very workable timetable on its implementation.
“Naturally, some of our members abroad will be disappointed, but we need to be provided with a general timetable on its implementation,” he stressed.
Mr Dedey said the implementation of ROPAL would require political parties to mobilise resources to ensure that their branches abroad were well resourced and in a position to serve their interests effectively.
He said the EC needed to provide guidelines for political parties as far as the implementation of ROPAL was concerned to enable the parties to have a better idea of the amount of money or resources they needed in order to get maximum benefits from the implementation of the law.
Mr Dedey stated that education on ROPAL had also not been adequate enough, explaining that, for instance, there was the need to identify the countries that ROPAL would cover and the basis on which those countries were going to be chosen.
He argued that there was no need to rush the passage of the bill into law if the government was not in the position to implement it and cited the Disability Act, which, according to him, was delayed for a long time because the government did not have adequate resources for its effective implementation.
Mr Jonah also described the announcement by the EC as welcome news which was in everybody’s interest, reports Donald Ato Dapatem.
That, he said, was because the initiation of the law to its passage had been characterised by controversy and lack of consensus, adding that the EC had not even completed its report on the familiarisation tours it made recently to countries that practised that law.
Mr Jonah said the implementation of the law also required huge sums of resources which the EC currently did not have.
He said that meant that the EC must tread cautiously and take its time before it would undertake the implementation of the law.
He also called on Ghanaians in the Diaspora to exercise restraint in their demands for the implementation of the law and allow the EC to finish its work.
Making his intervention, Mr Commey said the NPP had no problem with the announcement by the EC that it would not be able to implement ROPAL during the 2008 election.
He said the party had always had a lot of confidence in the EC and its time-tested integrity to come up with the right procedures and other policies to guide the implementation of the law when it was ready.
Mr Commey said the NPP, being a body that adhered to the tenets of the rule of law, had always held the position that ROPAL, which was constitutional, must be applied to the letter, saying that explained the decision of the party to initiate moves to pass the law through the legitimately accepted procedure, Parliament, after broad consultations, both locally and internationally.
He, however, stated that as required by law, the EC must take the decision as to when and how to implement the law.
Asked about his reaction to those who claimed that the party wanted to use the law to rig the 2008 elections, Mr Commey said the government initiated the move to pass the law to empower all Ghanaians to vote, as demanded by the Constitution.
Oil - Kosmos stirkes more
Front page Feb 24, 2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
KOSMOS Energy has struck new volumes of high quality crude oil in the deep waters of the Western Region of Ghana, company sources have confirmed.
The find was made in Odum-1, the latest well to be drilled by the company, barely six months after it had moved from the Mahogany-1 Well which gave the country its first ‘black gold’ in the last quarter of last year.
The news comes ahead of a crucial National Oil and Gas Forum today, called at the instance of President J.A. Kufuor to deliberate on a scheme to ensure the best for the country in terms of rules of exploratory rights, allocation of blocks and equitable distribution of oil revenues.
It also comes days after the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr James Musselman, had told a cross-section of the Ghanaian media that the company would begin drawing significant quantities of crude oil next year from the fields at West Cape Three Points, the area released to the company and its partners for oil exploration.
Songa Saturn, a second oil rig that made the discovery, was brought in by Kosmos in the middle of November last year to drill the Odum-1 well to pave the way for the commercial production of oil in Ghana.
Songa Saturn, which arrived from Equatorial Guinea, is a deep-water floating drilling rig and it is expected to leave for Libya after its expedition in Ghanaian waters.
Company sources said the Odum-1 exploration well had confirmed another oil accumulation on the block based on the results of drilling, wireline logs and reservoir fluid sample.
It said the Odum-1 well, which tested a different prospect from the company’s Mahogany-1 well, had been suspended as a future development well.
“When operations on the Odum-1 well are completed, the Songa Saturn will drill a second appraisal well of the Jubilee Field as part of the company’s 2008 multi-well appraisal programme,” the company said.
It said the Odum-1 well encountered a gross oil column of 60 metres (197 feet) which consisted of high quality stacked reservoir sandstone and net oil-bearing pay of 22 metres (72 feet).
The company said samples recovered from the reservoir indicated an oil gravity. The Odum-1 well, which was drilled in water depths of 955 metres (3,151 feet), reached a total depth of 3,386 metres (11,109) and it is located 13 kilometres east of the Mahogany-1 well and the Jubilee field.
Mr Musselman, who is also President and Founder of the company, is quoted as saying that “the success of the Odum-1 well and its confirmation of a new significant oil province in Ghana’s western offshore basin is another event for the Republic of Ghana and Kosmos”.
“We are pleased that the second exploration well in our Ghana drilling programme is another success. We look forward to continuing our work with the government and people of Ghana, as well as our block partners, to help develop and produce Ghana’s vital natural resources,” he added.
Kosmos — which is noted for its quick exploration record — was adjudged the "Explorer of the Year 2007" by the World Junior Oil & Gas Congress late last year after it had been recognised for the company's discovery of the Mahogany Field in Ghana's deep waters, possibly one of the largest oil finds offshore West Africa in the last decade, is a block operator and holds a 30.875 per cent interest in the West Cape Three Points block.
The World Junior Oil & Gas Congress awards celebrate the leaders, innovators and pioneers in the junior oil and gas industry around the globe and their most outstanding achievements.
Anadarko WCTP Company, an affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, has a 30.875 per cent interest while Tullow Ghana Limited, an affiliate of Tullow Oil plc, has a 22.896 per cent interest.
The E.O. Group Limited has a 3.5 per cent interest while that of Sabre Oil and Gas Limited has a 1.854 interest in the block. The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC), 10 per cent participating interest in the project, will be carried through the exploration and development phases.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
KOSMOS Energy has struck new volumes of high quality crude oil in the deep waters of the Western Region of Ghana, company sources have confirmed.
The find was made in Odum-1, the latest well to be drilled by the company, barely six months after it had moved from the Mahogany-1 Well which gave the country its first ‘black gold’ in the last quarter of last year.
The news comes ahead of a crucial National Oil and Gas Forum today, called at the instance of President J.A. Kufuor to deliberate on a scheme to ensure the best for the country in terms of rules of exploratory rights, allocation of blocks and equitable distribution of oil revenues.
It also comes days after the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr James Musselman, had told a cross-section of the Ghanaian media that the company would begin drawing significant quantities of crude oil next year from the fields at West Cape Three Points, the area released to the company and its partners for oil exploration.
Songa Saturn, a second oil rig that made the discovery, was brought in by Kosmos in the middle of November last year to drill the Odum-1 well to pave the way for the commercial production of oil in Ghana.
Songa Saturn, which arrived from Equatorial Guinea, is a deep-water floating drilling rig and it is expected to leave for Libya after its expedition in Ghanaian waters.
Company sources said the Odum-1 exploration well had confirmed another oil accumulation on the block based on the results of drilling, wireline logs and reservoir fluid sample.
It said the Odum-1 well, which tested a different prospect from the company’s Mahogany-1 well, had been suspended as a future development well.
“When operations on the Odum-1 well are completed, the Songa Saturn will drill a second appraisal well of the Jubilee Field as part of the company’s 2008 multi-well appraisal programme,” the company said.
It said the Odum-1 well encountered a gross oil column of 60 metres (197 feet) which consisted of high quality stacked reservoir sandstone and net oil-bearing pay of 22 metres (72 feet).
The company said samples recovered from the reservoir indicated an oil gravity. The Odum-1 well, which was drilled in water depths of 955 metres (3,151 feet), reached a total depth of 3,386 metres (11,109) and it is located 13 kilometres east of the Mahogany-1 well and the Jubilee field.
Mr Musselman, who is also President and Founder of the company, is quoted as saying that “the success of the Odum-1 well and its confirmation of a new significant oil province in Ghana’s western offshore basin is another event for the Republic of Ghana and Kosmos”.
“We are pleased that the second exploration well in our Ghana drilling programme is another success. We look forward to continuing our work with the government and people of Ghana, as well as our block partners, to help develop and produce Ghana’s vital natural resources,” he added.
Kosmos — which is noted for its quick exploration record — was adjudged the "Explorer of the Year 2007" by the World Junior Oil & Gas Congress late last year after it had been recognised for the company's discovery of the Mahogany Field in Ghana's deep waters, possibly one of the largest oil finds offshore West Africa in the last decade, is a block operator and holds a 30.875 per cent interest in the West Cape Three Points block.
The World Junior Oil & Gas Congress awards celebrate the leaders, innovators and pioneers in the junior oil and gas industry around the globe and their most outstanding achievements.
Anadarko WCTP Company, an affiliate of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, has a 30.875 per cent interest while Tullow Ghana Limited, an affiliate of Tullow Oil plc, has a 22.896 per cent interest.
The E.O. Group Limited has a 3.5 per cent interest while that of Sabre Oil and Gas Limited has a 1.854 interest in the block. The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC), 10 per cent participating interest in the project, will be carried through the exploration and development phases.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
JICA representative pays visit to Graphic
Spread Feb 23/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Ibrahim Awal, has called on the country’s development partners to devote a portion of their financial assistance to the country to the training of media personnel to make them more professional to safeguard the country’s democracy.
He said the role of the media in sustaining and building on the democratic principles in the country cannot be overemphasised and noted that a vibrant and well trained media, could serve as a major tool to safeguard the country’s fledging democracy.
Mr Awal who made the call when the Resident Representative of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Mr Kunihiro Yamauchi, paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra on Tuesday, said “the development partners are helping Ghana in many ways to consolidate its democracy but the media’s role is equally very crucial to sustain that democracy”.
Present at the meeting were Mr Naoki Yanase, Assistant Resident Representative, Ms Rabi Ali Abaari, Programme Officer, Training, Planning and Aid Co-ordination and Ms Makiko Kimura, Staff, NGO-JICA Japan Desk of all of JICA and from the GCGL were Mr Ransford Tetteh, Editor, Daily Graphic and Mr Albert Sam, Head of Public Affairs.
Mr Awal said the country had come a long way as far as sustaining its democracy was concerned and noted that “this has made Ghana an icon on the continent”.
He said without a vibrant media, that achievement which many development partners commend would elude the country and noted that constant training of all the media personnel would make them more responsible to be able to guard the process.
“Your efforts may come to naught if the media behaves unprofessionally and that sparks trouble in the country as in the case in many other African countries”, he said.
Mr Awal said GCGL on its own had instituted the governance dialogue programme held annually to bring people from all over the sub-region to discuss and deliberate on matters of democracy and how to build and sustain it.
He said in August this year, the third in the series of the dialogue would be held and called for collaboration to make it more successful than the previous two.
Mr Awal commended JICA for the many projects it had undertaken in the past and continued to undertake in the country as part of efforts to better the lives of the people saying “your work in the country was well noted and appreciated and we hope we can further collaborate in many areas in the interest of the people”.
Mr Yamauchi said Japan was to spend several millions of dollars in grants over the next three years to help build the country’s infrastructure particularly roads and public sector reforms among others.
He said there were other areas such as vocational education where Japan was already committing a lot of resources to help develop and mentioned the three northern regions as areas where activities of JICA were more focused.
Mr Yamauchi said Ghana has the largest number of Japanese volunteers as compared to any country in the world.
“We have 101 volunteers with you and they are spread in many parts of the country and are coping with situation in which they find themselves”, he added.
He commended the GCGL for the role it was playing in selling news to every part of the country and pledged the commitment of JICA to work together with the company to further better the lives of the people.
Mr Yamauchi and his team were later conducted round the refurbished newsroom of the flagship paper of the company, Daily Graphic where they were shown round by the News Editor, Mr Sammy Okaitey.
They also visited the printing section and G-Park, a subsidiary of the GCGL which is into the printing of books, labels and other printing works.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Ibrahim Awal, has called on the country’s development partners to devote a portion of their financial assistance to the country to the training of media personnel to make them more professional to safeguard the country’s democracy.
He said the role of the media in sustaining and building on the democratic principles in the country cannot be overemphasised and noted that a vibrant and well trained media, could serve as a major tool to safeguard the country’s fledging democracy.
Mr Awal who made the call when the Resident Representative of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), Mr Kunihiro Yamauchi, paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra on Tuesday, said “the development partners are helping Ghana in many ways to consolidate its democracy but the media’s role is equally very crucial to sustain that democracy”.
Present at the meeting were Mr Naoki Yanase, Assistant Resident Representative, Ms Rabi Ali Abaari, Programme Officer, Training, Planning and Aid Co-ordination and Ms Makiko Kimura, Staff, NGO-JICA Japan Desk of all of JICA and from the GCGL were Mr Ransford Tetteh, Editor, Daily Graphic and Mr Albert Sam, Head of Public Affairs.
Mr Awal said the country had come a long way as far as sustaining its democracy was concerned and noted that “this has made Ghana an icon on the continent”.
He said without a vibrant media, that achievement which many development partners commend would elude the country and noted that constant training of all the media personnel would make them more responsible to be able to guard the process.
“Your efforts may come to naught if the media behaves unprofessionally and that sparks trouble in the country as in the case in many other African countries”, he said.
Mr Awal said GCGL on its own had instituted the governance dialogue programme held annually to bring people from all over the sub-region to discuss and deliberate on matters of democracy and how to build and sustain it.
He said in August this year, the third in the series of the dialogue would be held and called for collaboration to make it more successful than the previous two.
Mr Awal commended JICA for the many projects it had undertaken in the past and continued to undertake in the country as part of efforts to better the lives of the people saying “your work in the country was well noted and appreciated and we hope we can further collaborate in many areas in the interest of the people”.
Mr Yamauchi said Japan was to spend several millions of dollars in grants over the next three years to help build the country’s infrastructure particularly roads and public sector reforms among others.
He said there were other areas such as vocational education where Japan was already committing a lot of resources to help develop and mentioned the three northern regions as areas where activities of JICA were more focused.
Mr Yamauchi said Ghana has the largest number of Japanese volunteers as compared to any country in the world.
“We have 101 volunteers with you and they are spread in many parts of the country and are coping with situation in which they find themselves”, he added.
He commended the GCGL for the role it was playing in selling news to every part of the country and pledged the commitment of JICA to work together with the company to further better the lives of the people.
Mr Yamauchi and his team were later conducted round the refurbished newsroom of the flagship paper of the company, Daily Graphic where they were shown round by the News Editor, Mr Sammy Okaitey.
They also visited the printing section and G-Park, a subsidiary of the GCGL which is into the printing of books, labels and other printing works.
Remove tax moratorium to export developers
Back pg (lead) Feb 23/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine & Edward Turkson
A Senior Partner of PricewaterHouse Coopers, Mr Felix Addo, has advocated the removal of the 10-year tax moratorium granted to real estate developers in the country.
He explained that studies had shown that real estate developers recouped their investments between one and three years; therefore, the incentives to the developers was not necessary.
Mr Addo, who made the suggestion at a business roundtable organised by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), admitted that the suggestion was controversial but insisted that it was a fact the nation could not run away from, and noted that more incentives to sectors such as agriculture processing and manufacturing should rather be given greater priority.
The roundtable, which was attended by captains of the economy and private business owners, was on the theme: “Reforming Ghana’s taxation laws and administration for sustained and broad economic growth”.
Mr Addo said real estate developers enjoyed tax incentives of up to 10 years because of the notion that the huge investments made in the industry could only be recouped after that period but studies over the years showed otherwise.
Housing has been one of the major bane of the government as many Ghanaians do not have their personal homes and mostly resort to renting at exorbitant rates.
This, among others, compelled the government to give tax incentives to real estate developers to enable them to put up houses at affordable prices to enable more people to buy and also to allow the developers ample time to recoup their investments.
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground suggests that most of the houses the developers claim to be affordable are far beyond the reach of the ordinary worker although most of the houses they put up get fully paid for sometimes even before they are completed.
Mr Addo said the country’s economy had reached a stage were there was the need to concentrate more on value addition to pave way for the setting up of manufacturing companies.
He said tax incentives to the manufacturing sector could be of a major benefit to the country as more jobs would be created.
Mr Addo also noted that the imposition of taxes should be carefully done so that it did not become a tax by default.
He said taxes should not burden companies and institutions but should be should be felt as an onerous obligation to the state and society.
Mrs Susan Himes, an international tax expert, said in coming out with tax incentives, the process needed to be transparent for all to know which categories they fell in and how they could easily access information on it.
She said in coming out with incentives, governments should not look at the size and origins of the companies, their background or ownership structure, since such a move rather made the system discriminatory and ineffective.
Mrs Himes said taxes should not create avenues for companies and the government to argue because that would not be healthy for the economy.
She said in granting tax incentives, there was the need for the government to set a clear and unambiguous goal.
“The government need to know what the incentives are for; so that a critical analysis is required to ensure that the purpose for which the incentives were created are achieved,” she added.
Mrs Himes called for a special desk within the Finance Ministry, which should be manned by tax experts, to deal with all issues related to taxation in the country.
She debunked the assertion that tax incentive was a way of reducing unemployment, adding that if that was part of a reason incentives were given, then it was a wrong idea.
The President of AGI, Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, in his welcoming address said the tax systems in the country needed to be looked at, hence the roundtable for stakeholders and experts to brainstorm to see the way forward.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine & Edward Turkson
A Senior Partner of PricewaterHouse Coopers, Mr Felix Addo, has advocated the removal of the 10-year tax moratorium granted to real estate developers in the country.
He explained that studies had shown that real estate developers recouped their investments between one and three years; therefore, the incentives to the developers was not necessary.
Mr Addo, who made the suggestion at a business roundtable organised by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), admitted that the suggestion was controversial but insisted that it was a fact the nation could not run away from, and noted that more incentives to sectors such as agriculture processing and manufacturing should rather be given greater priority.
The roundtable, which was attended by captains of the economy and private business owners, was on the theme: “Reforming Ghana’s taxation laws and administration for sustained and broad economic growth”.
Mr Addo said real estate developers enjoyed tax incentives of up to 10 years because of the notion that the huge investments made in the industry could only be recouped after that period but studies over the years showed otherwise.
Housing has been one of the major bane of the government as many Ghanaians do not have their personal homes and mostly resort to renting at exorbitant rates.
This, among others, compelled the government to give tax incentives to real estate developers to enable them to put up houses at affordable prices to enable more people to buy and also to allow the developers ample time to recoup their investments.
Meanwhile, the situation on the ground suggests that most of the houses the developers claim to be affordable are far beyond the reach of the ordinary worker although most of the houses they put up get fully paid for sometimes even before they are completed.
Mr Addo said the country’s economy had reached a stage were there was the need to concentrate more on value addition to pave way for the setting up of manufacturing companies.
He said tax incentives to the manufacturing sector could be of a major benefit to the country as more jobs would be created.
Mr Addo also noted that the imposition of taxes should be carefully done so that it did not become a tax by default.
He said taxes should not burden companies and institutions but should be should be felt as an onerous obligation to the state and society.
Mrs Susan Himes, an international tax expert, said in coming out with tax incentives, the process needed to be transparent for all to know which categories they fell in and how they could easily access information on it.
She said in coming out with incentives, governments should not look at the size and origins of the companies, their background or ownership structure, since such a move rather made the system discriminatory and ineffective.
Mrs Himes said taxes should not create avenues for companies and the government to argue because that would not be healthy for the economy.
She said in granting tax incentives, there was the need for the government to set a clear and unambiguous goal.
“The government need to know what the incentives are for; so that a critical analysis is required to ensure that the purpose for which the incentives were created are achieved,” she added.
Mrs Himes called for a special desk within the Finance Ministry, which should be manned by tax experts, to deal with all issues related to taxation in the country.
She debunked the assertion that tax incentive was a way of reducing unemployment, adding that if that was part of a reason incentives were given, then it was a wrong idea.
The President of AGI, Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, in his welcoming address said the tax systems in the country needed to be looked at, hence the roundtable for stakeholders and experts to brainstorm to see the way forward.
Ghana to export labour
Spread (lead) Feb 23/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE ministries of Manpower, Youth and Employment and Finance and Economic Planning are working out common standards and policy to legally export skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour to countries that need it as a way of stemming the tide of illegal migration.
The policy, which will be within the framework of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), is also intended to open more job avenues for the youth.
The Deputy Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Ms Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, dropped the hint at the steering committee meeting of the International Organisation For Migration (IOM) in Accra yesterday. It was under the auspices of the European Union and the IOM.
She indicated that the immediate target of the plan would be what she described as ‘friendly’ countries, including South Korea, Libya and Spain.
The deputy minister also used the occasion to inaugurate a committee to manage a project to facilitate a coherent migration management approach in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Libya through an assessment of national labour migration management, matching supply of job opportunities to demand and addressing irregular migration flows through the provision of information.
Mrs Osei-Opare explained that Ghana was confronted with the problems of brain drain and illegal migration which often created grievous problems for the people, saying that it would be in the interest of both the user countries and Ghana to have the labour trained in a way that would benefit both parties.
She said Ghana and the countries that benefited from the skilled migrants stood to gain immensely if that collaboration was there.
Ghana suffers a major brain drain, particularly within the medical sector, as many freshly trained doctors leave the shores of Ghana to work in foreign countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States of America (USA).
The unskilled ones among them find dubious and dangerous means to migrate through Libya and other desert countries to places such as Spain and Italy.
Mrs Osei-Opare said such expeditions were not in the interest of those involved, Ghana or the countries they entered because of the illegalities involved with their move.
To her, “the meeting has come at an opportune time, considering the hue and cry over the fate and treatment of some of our compatriots and other citizens from the sub-region in some foreign countries, dubbed greener pastures”.
“I wish to advise that the discussions on the subject should be a win-win situation for the sending and receiving countries. This compromise will stem the tide of illegal migration, with its attendant adverse effects on both parties,” she added.
The Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Ghana, Mr Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, said the assemblage of various participants from different countries at the meeting underlined the importance of dialogue on migration management.
He said the IOM programme had all the ingredients to address the challenges which lay ahead to be able to achieve better and more coherent migration management.
Giving an overview of the project, Mr Jo Rispoli said “the project has major components — to enhance national capacities for labour migration management in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Libya, as well as contribute to the development of mechanisms for the insertion of workers into the EU labour market through the testing of pilot mechanisms with Italy”.
Explaining why Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal were mostly targeted, he said those were the countries where the majority of the migrants emanated from.
He said Libya was added because many of the migrants who could not continue their journey ended up there.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE ministries of Manpower, Youth and Employment and Finance and Economic Planning are working out common standards and policy to legally export skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour to countries that need it as a way of stemming the tide of illegal migration.
The policy, which will be within the framework of a memorandum of understanding (MOU), is also intended to open more job avenues for the youth.
The Deputy Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Ms Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, dropped the hint at the steering committee meeting of the International Organisation For Migration (IOM) in Accra yesterday. It was under the auspices of the European Union and the IOM.
She indicated that the immediate target of the plan would be what she described as ‘friendly’ countries, including South Korea, Libya and Spain.
The deputy minister also used the occasion to inaugurate a committee to manage a project to facilitate a coherent migration management approach in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Libya through an assessment of national labour migration management, matching supply of job opportunities to demand and addressing irregular migration flows through the provision of information.
Mrs Osei-Opare explained that Ghana was confronted with the problems of brain drain and illegal migration which often created grievous problems for the people, saying that it would be in the interest of both the user countries and Ghana to have the labour trained in a way that would benefit both parties.
She said Ghana and the countries that benefited from the skilled migrants stood to gain immensely if that collaboration was there.
Ghana suffers a major brain drain, particularly within the medical sector, as many freshly trained doctors leave the shores of Ghana to work in foreign countries, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States of America (USA).
The unskilled ones among them find dubious and dangerous means to migrate through Libya and other desert countries to places such as Spain and Italy.
Mrs Osei-Opare said such expeditions were not in the interest of those involved, Ghana or the countries they entered because of the illegalities involved with their move.
To her, “the meeting has come at an opportune time, considering the hue and cry over the fate and treatment of some of our compatriots and other citizens from the sub-region in some foreign countries, dubbed greener pastures”.
“I wish to advise that the discussions on the subject should be a win-win situation for the sending and receiving countries. This compromise will stem the tide of illegal migration, with its attendant adverse effects on both parties,” she added.
The Head of Delegation of the European Commission in Ghana, Mr Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, said the assemblage of various participants from different countries at the meeting underlined the importance of dialogue on migration management.
He said the IOM programme had all the ingredients to address the challenges which lay ahead to be able to achieve better and more coherent migration management.
Giving an overview of the project, Mr Jo Rispoli said “the project has major components — to enhance national capacities for labour migration management in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Libya, as well as contribute to the development of mechanisms for the insertion of workers into the EU labour market through the testing of pilot mechanisms with Italy”.
Explaining why Ghana, Nigeria and Senegal were mostly targeted, he said those were the countries where the majority of the migrants emanated from.
He said Libya was added because many of the migrants who could not continue their journey ended up there.
Kosmos to list of GSE
Business (lead) Feb 23/2008
Story & Picture: Charles Benoni Okine
KOSMOS Energy has hinted that it will raise some funds on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) in the near future, should it require additional capital to continue its oil exploration in the deep waters of the country.
It said although it required up to $10 billion over the next three to four years to be able to fully drill all the wells within its area of operation, there was no intention yet to float shares on the GSE.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of Kosmos Energy, Mr James C. Musselman, gave the hint when he briefed a selected number of newsmen in Accra on Wednesday.
He said studies had revealed that there were large deposits of crude oil within the Cape Three Points area of the Western Region and gave the assurance that all efforts would be made to ensure that the oil was drawn.
Mr Musselman was flanked by the Country Manager of the company, Mr George Yaw Owusu, the Chief Financial Officer, Mr Yaw Owusu, and the Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr George Sarpong.
The GSE has been one of the very reliable sources of raising funds by Ghanaian and foreign companies wishing to recapitalise to boost their operations, the latest of such being Golden Star Resources, the second mining company to list after AngloGold Ashanti.
Mr Musselman said although the company had been able to discover oil, a lot of work involving money still remained to be done to ensure that Ghana realised all the treasure it had under the sea bed. He added that raising money on the stock market was possible but that it would not do so now.
Kosmos Energy, noted for its quick exploration record, was adjudged the "Explorer of the Year" by the World Junior Oil & Gas Congress late last year after it had been recognised for the company's discovery of the Mahogany Field in Ghana's deep waters, possibly one of the largest oil finds offshore West Africa in the last decade.
The World Junior Oil & Gas Congress awards celebrate the leaders, innovators and pioneers in the junior oil and gas industry around the globe and their most outstanding achievements.
Mr Musselman said the drilling was being done in phases to ensure that at every stage thorough work was done before moving on to the next phases.
He mentioned the efforts by the company to draw its first substantial oil from the area by the middle of next year and noted that that move was necessary not only because “Ghana was hungry for oil” but also to allow the company to better know much about the reservoir from which the oil would be drilled.
Mr Musselman said part of the money would be used in laying a number of pipelines on the ocean floor to transport the oil straight into giant ships which would dock to pick it.
He said Kosmos had other shareholders as far as its operations within the Cape Three Points were concerned and noted that any expenditure for now would have to be agreed among the partners before any decision was arrived at.
Mr Musselman said the company had more data on the area where it was carrying out its operations but added that there was the need for it to think critically as time went by to be able to maximise production.
He said one of the key strengths of the company was its ability to take risk.
“Where the big guys shy away is where we like most and that has paid off since we started operations,” he added.
Mr Musselman described the company as risk takers and noted that it had assembled very competent workers such as geophysicists of international repute to work, saying that explained the results the company was getting since it began operations.
Story & Picture: Charles Benoni Okine
KOSMOS Energy has hinted that it will raise some funds on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) in the near future, should it require additional capital to continue its oil exploration in the deep waters of the country.
It said although it required up to $10 billion over the next three to four years to be able to fully drill all the wells within its area of operation, there was no intention yet to float shares on the GSE.
The President and Chief Executive Officer of Kosmos Energy, Mr James C. Musselman, gave the hint when he briefed a selected number of newsmen in Accra on Wednesday.
He said studies had revealed that there were large deposits of crude oil within the Cape Three Points area of the Western Region and gave the assurance that all efforts would be made to ensure that the oil was drawn.
Mr Musselman was flanked by the Country Manager of the company, Mr George Yaw Owusu, the Chief Financial Officer, Mr Yaw Owusu, and the Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr George Sarpong.
The GSE has been one of the very reliable sources of raising funds by Ghanaian and foreign companies wishing to recapitalise to boost their operations, the latest of such being Golden Star Resources, the second mining company to list after AngloGold Ashanti.
Mr Musselman said although the company had been able to discover oil, a lot of work involving money still remained to be done to ensure that Ghana realised all the treasure it had under the sea bed. He added that raising money on the stock market was possible but that it would not do so now.
Kosmos Energy, noted for its quick exploration record, was adjudged the "Explorer of the Year" by the World Junior Oil & Gas Congress late last year after it had been recognised for the company's discovery of the Mahogany Field in Ghana's deep waters, possibly one of the largest oil finds offshore West Africa in the last decade.
The World Junior Oil & Gas Congress awards celebrate the leaders, innovators and pioneers in the junior oil and gas industry around the globe and their most outstanding achievements.
Mr Musselman said the drilling was being done in phases to ensure that at every stage thorough work was done before moving on to the next phases.
He mentioned the efforts by the company to draw its first substantial oil from the area by the middle of next year and noted that that move was necessary not only because “Ghana was hungry for oil” but also to allow the company to better know much about the reservoir from which the oil would be drilled.
Mr Musselman said part of the money would be used in laying a number of pipelines on the ocean floor to transport the oil straight into giant ships which would dock to pick it.
He said Kosmos had other shareholders as far as its operations within the Cape Three Points were concerned and noted that any expenditure for now would have to be agreed among the partners before any decision was arrived at.
Mr Musselman said the company had more data on the area where it was carrying out its operations but added that there was the need for it to think critically as time went by to be able to maximise production.
He said one of the key strengths of the company was its ability to take risk.
“Where the big guys shy away is where we like most and that has paid off since we started operations,” he added.
Mr Musselman described the company as risk takers and noted that it had assembled very competent workers such as geophysicists of international repute to work, saying that explained the results the company was getting since it began operations.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Ghana to realise oil dreams next year
Back pg (lead) Feb 22, 2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Chief Executive Officer of Kosmos Energy, Mr James C. Musselman, has announced that Ghana will begin drawing significant quantities of crude oil next year from the fields at Cape Three Points.
He, however, did not say in what quantities the initial draw would be but stressed that “ we know it will be many barrels; we have intensified our efforts and we are very optimistic that this in going to happen latest by the middle of next year”.
Mr Musselman made the announcement at a meeting with mediamen in Accra on Wednesday and said there was still some work to be done on the reservoir.
“It is our goal to get this because of the work ahead; it is a large reservoir and we need to get early draws to know more about the reservoirs”, he added.
Kosmos Energy, late last year struck oil in the deep waters of Ghana in Cape Three Points in the Western Region.
Using one of the latest drills in the business, named the “Belford Dolphin”, the company drilled its first well, the Mahogany Well 1, at approximately 165-5,900 feet and discovered the crude oil which is said to be within the range of the best quality.
The news keeps alive Ghana’s dream of becoming an oil hub in Africa as efforts to achieve that has already received a further boost with the investment of US$100 million by the company to drill and evaluate two additional wells by the end of the first quarter of the year.
The company is expected to drill a total of six wells by the end of the year.
Mr Musselman who sounded very optimistic said the nature of the reservoir was such that the company needed to be cautious by proceeding in a manner that would not harm it.
He said the nature of the well gives indications that it could be drilled for up to 30 years and al efforts needed to be made to ensure that “we maximise the benefits from it”.
Presently, another oil rig, Songa Saturn, arrived in the territorial waters of Ghana mid November last year to drill a second well to pave the way for the commercial production of oil in Ghana.
The rig is expected to be in the deep waters of Cape Three Points in the Western Region, where the well is to be drilled.
Songa Saturn, which arrived from Equatorial Guinea, is a deep-water floating drilling rig and it is expected to leave for Libya after a three-month expedition in Ghana.
On the crucial question of how many barrels there was in the deep waters of Ghana, Mr Musselman said “we need to drill between 700 to 800 wells to be able to hit the numbers being called”.
Some have put the number of barrels at between 500 million and 1.2 billion but the President of the Kosmos stated categorically that “we do not know that yet but from the discovery and the tests done so far, the company cannot doubt the figures.”
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Chief Executive Officer of Kosmos Energy, Mr James C. Musselman, has announced that Ghana will begin drawing significant quantities of crude oil next year from the fields at Cape Three Points.
He, however, did not say in what quantities the initial draw would be but stressed that “ we know it will be many barrels; we have intensified our efforts and we are very optimistic that this in going to happen latest by the middle of next year”.
Mr Musselman made the announcement at a meeting with mediamen in Accra on Wednesday and said there was still some work to be done on the reservoir.
“It is our goal to get this because of the work ahead; it is a large reservoir and we need to get early draws to know more about the reservoirs”, he added.
Kosmos Energy, late last year struck oil in the deep waters of Ghana in Cape Three Points in the Western Region.
Using one of the latest drills in the business, named the “Belford Dolphin”, the company drilled its first well, the Mahogany Well 1, at approximately 165-5,900 feet and discovered the crude oil which is said to be within the range of the best quality.
The news keeps alive Ghana’s dream of becoming an oil hub in Africa as efforts to achieve that has already received a further boost with the investment of US$100 million by the company to drill and evaluate two additional wells by the end of the first quarter of the year.
The company is expected to drill a total of six wells by the end of the year.
Mr Musselman who sounded very optimistic said the nature of the reservoir was such that the company needed to be cautious by proceeding in a manner that would not harm it.
He said the nature of the well gives indications that it could be drilled for up to 30 years and al efforts needed to be made to ensure that “we maximise the benefits from it”.
Presently, another oil rig, Songa Saturn, arrived in the territorial waters of Ghana mid November last year to drill a second well to pave the way for the commercial production of oil in Ghana.
The rig is expected to be in the deep waters of Cape Three Points in the Western Region, where the well is to be drilled.
Songa Saturn, which arrived from Equatorial Guinea, is a deep-water floating drilling rig and it is expected to leave for Libya after a three-month expedition in Ghana.
On the crucial question of how many barrels there was in the deep waters of Ghana, Mr Musselman said “we need to drill between 700 to 800 wells to be able to hit the numbers being called”.
Some have put the number of barrels at between 500 million and 1.2 billion but the President of the Kosmos stated categorically that “we do not know that yet but from the discovery and the tests done so far, the company cannot doubt the figures.”
NO ROPAL NOW • EC declares
Front pg (lead) Feb. 22, 2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Representation of the People (Amendment) Law (ROPAL) which will enable Ghanaians living abroad to vote in their respective countries of abode will not apply to this year’s general election on December 7.
Ghanaians living outside who intend to vote in the December elections will, therefore, have to come to Ghana to do so.
This is because no arrangements have been made yet to open the voters’ register for Ghanaians outside the country to register and cast their ballots there.
A source at the Electoral Commission (EC) told the Daily Graphic that although the commission had received some funds to do some preliminary work on the implementation of ROPAL, the team that went on the trip to ascertain the possibility of implementing the law this year had not yet presented a report.
The source confirmed that from May 8 to 17, this year, the voters’ register would be re-opened to allow Ghanaians who had turned 18 years and those who had not registered before to do so but added that no such register would be opened for Ghanaians outside the country.
The introduction of the Representation of the People’s (Amendment) Act (ROPAA) and its subsequent passage into law by Parliament sparked a series of street protests mainly from the opposition parties, led by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the biggest opposition party, and the Committee for Joint Action (CJA).
According to those who opposed it, the system to be adopted could not be monitored because of the lack of logistics and the human resource to monitor the process world-wide.
Many governance experts added their voices by stating that although the idea was not a bad one, the country was not financially ready to undertake such an exercise.
They called for a thorough study of the act before it was passed and (after its passage) implemented.
Highly placed sources within the EC told the Daily Graphic that the implementation of ROPAL was not feasible because of the cost. They also noted that in countries where citizens living outside those country were made to vote, the turnout had been nothing to write home about and, therefore, it would be an exercise in futility should Ghana go ahead with its implementation.
They argued that many Ghanaians in the Diaspora were of doubtful residential and working status and might not want to encounter any immigration difficulties by approaching Ghanaian polling centres to cast their ballot.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Representation of the People (Amendment) Law (ROPAL) which will enable Ghanaians living abroad to vote in their respective countries of abode will not apply to this year’s general election on December 7.
Ghanaians living outside who intend to vote in the December elections will, therefore, have to come to Ghana to do so.
This is because no arrangements have been made yet to open the voters’ register for Ghanaians outside the country to register and cast their ballots there.
A source at the Electoral Commission (EC) told the Daily Graphic that although the commission had received some funds to do some preliminary work on the implementation of ROPAL, the team that went on the trip to ascertain the possibility of implementing the law this year had not yet presented a report.
The source confirmed that from May 8 to 17, this year, the voters’ register would be re-opened to allow Ghanaians who had turned 18 years and those who had not registered before to do so but added that no such register would be opened for Ghanaians outside the country.
The introduction of the Representation of the People’s (Amendment) Act (ROPAA) and its subsequent passage into law by Parliament sparked a series of street protests mainly from the opposition parties, led by the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the biggest opposition party, and the Committee for Joint Action (CJA).
According to those who opposed it, the system to be adopted could not be monitored because of the lack of logistics and the human resource to monitor the process world-wide.
Many governance experts added their voices by stating that although the idea was not a bad one, the country was not financially ready to undertake such an exercise.
They called for a thorough study of the act before it was passed and (after its passage) implemented.
Highly placed sources within the EC told the Daily Graphic that the implementation of ROPAL was not feasible because of the cost. They also noted that in countries where citizens living outside those country were made to vote, the turnout had been nothing to write home about and, therefore, it would be an exercise in futility should Ghana go ahead with its implementation.
They argued that many Ghanaians in the Diaspora were of doubtful residential and working status and might not want to encounter any immigration difficulties by approaching Ghanaian polling centres to cast their ballot.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Fuel prices up
Page 3 Feb. 21/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THERE have been an upward adjustment in the prices of all the five major petroleum products in the country with effect from last Saturday, February 16, 2008 to reflect the soaring prices of crude oil on the international market.
From 102Gp per litre, premium petrol is now selling at 104Gp per litre, while gas oil, which was 101.6Gp, has shot up to 104Gp per litre.
Kerosene, which was 92.05Gp per litre at the beginning of the month, has also gone up to 94.30Gp per litre.
The price for premix, the fuel used by the fisherfolk, which also stood at 70.2Gp per litre, has gone up marginally and is now selling at 71.70Gp per litre.
As per the new price adjustment regime adopted by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), in conjunction with the oil marketing companies (OMCs), the prices of the products are to move up and down depending on the price of crude oil on the international market.
On Monday, the price of crude oil rose above $96 a barrel, surging to a one-month high as investors fixated on the possibility — however slim — of OPEC member Venezuela halting supplies to the top consumer, the United States.
US crude was up 45 cents at $95.91, after earlier hitting $96.05. London Brent crude rose 25 cents to $95.41.
The South American country, one of the largest crude exporters to the US, cut shipments to Exxon Mobil earlier this week after the US oil major won court orders to freeze over $12 billion of Venezuela's assets.
Major oil producers in the Middle East have already assured the US that they could compensate for a supply disruption if Venezuela slowed exports.
Supply worries also eased as Mexico re-opened all three of its main oil exporting ports on Thursday, a day after they had been closed because of bad weather in the Gulf of Mexico.
The market continued to fret over slowing US oil demand as economic woes lingered.
The fixing of fuel prices in the country has been deregulated to enable market forces to dictate the prices on the market.
The move has freed the government from the burden of having to heavily subsidise the product, a regime which nearly crippled the economy in 2000.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THERE have been an upward adjustment in the prices of all the five major petroleum products in the country with effect from last Saturday, February 16, 2008 to reflect the soaring prices of crude oil on the international market.
From 102Gp per litre, premium petrol is now selling at 104Gp per litre, while gas oil, which was 101.6Gp, has shot up to 104Gp per litre.
Kerosene, which was 92.05Gp per litre at the beginning of the month, has also gone up to 94.30Gp per litre.
The price for premix, the fuel used by the fisherfolk, which also stood at 70.2Gp per litre, has gone up marginally and is now selling at 71.70Gp per litre.
As per the new price adjustment regime adopted by the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), in conjunction with the oil marketing companies (OMCs), the prices of the products are to move up and down depending on the price of crude oil on the international market.
On Monday, the price of crude oil rose above $96 a barrel, surging to a one-month high as investors fixated on the possibility — however slim — of OPEC member Venezuela halting supplies to the top consumer, the United States.
US crude was up 45 cents at $95.91, after earlier hitting $96.05. London Brent crude rose 25 cents to $95.41.
The South American country, one of the largest crude exporters to the US, cut shipments to Exxon Mobil earlier this week after the US oil major won court orders to freeze over $12 billion of Venezuela's assets.
Major oil producers in the Middle East have already assured the US that they could compensate for a supply disruption if Venezuela slowed exports.
Supply worries also eased as Mexico re-opened all three of its main oil exporting ports on Thursday, a day after they had been closed because of bad weather in the Gulf of Mexico.
The market continued to fret over slowing US oil demand as economic woes lingered.
The fixing of fuel prices in the country has been deregulated to enable market forces to dictate the prices on the market.
The move has freed the government from the burden of having to heavily subsidise the product, a regime which nearly crippled the economy in 2000.
Monday, February 18, 2008
AGOA provides liberal access to US market.
Daily Graphic Special Supplement on Bush's visit Pg 58, Feb 18/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
BEFORE the year 2000, it had been the dream of many African countries to export most of their products to the United States, perhaps the biggest market they can have in the world. At every meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), African countries fought relentlessly to have free access to the US and the European market but with very little success.
Luckily, the US gave a positive response and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was born to provide reforming African countries with the most liberal access to the U.S. market available to any country or region with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement.
AGOA supports US business by encouraging a reform of Africa's economic and commercial regimes, which will build stronger markets and more effective partners for US firms.
The beauty of the Act is that it expands the list of products which eligible sub-Saharan African countries may export to the United States, subject to zero import duty under what is termed the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). While GSP covers approximately 4,600 items, AGOA GSP applies to more than 6,400 items. AGOA GSP provisions will be in effect until September 30, 2015.
To firm the idea, AGOA was signed into law on May 18, 2000 by the immediate past President of the United States of America (USA), Bill Clinton, as Title 1 of The Trade and Development Act of 2000. The Act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets.
When the current President George W. Bush assumed the reins of government, he signed amendments to AGOA, also known as AGOA II, into law on August 6, 2002 as Sec. 3108 of the Trade Act of 2002. AGOA II substantially expands preferential access for imports from beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries.
By modifying certain provisions of the AGOA, the AGOA Acceleration Act of 2004 (AGOA III, signed by President Bush on July 12, 2004) extends preferential access for imports from beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries until September 30, 2015; extends third country fabric provision for three years, from September 2004 until September 2007; and provides additional Congressional guidance to the administration on how to administer the textile provisions of the bill.
The Africa Investment Incentive Act of 2006 (signed by President Bush on December 20, 2006), further amends portions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and is referred to as "AGOA IV". The legislation extends the third country fabric provision for an additional five years, from September 2007 until September 2012; adds an abundant supply provision; designates certain denim articles as being in abundant supply; and allows lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries to export certain textile articles under AGOA.
Since its implementation, AGOA has encouraged substantial new investments, trade, and job creation in Africa. It has helped to promote sub-Saharan Africa's integration into the multilateral trading system and a more active role in global trade negotiations. It has also contributed to economic and commercial reforms which make African countries more attractive commercial partners for US companies.
Implementation
An AGOA implementation subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) was established to implement AGOA. Among the most important implementation issues are the following:
. Determination of country eligibility;
. Determination of the products eligible for zero tariff under expansion of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP);
. Determination of compliance with the conditions for apparel benefits;
. Establishment of the US-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Forum; and
. Provision for technical assistance to help countries qualify for benefits.
Country eligibility
The U.S. Government intends that the largest possible number of Sub-Saharan African countries should be able to take advantage of AGOA. President Clinton issued a proclamation on October 2, 2000 designating 34 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as eligible for the trade benefits of AGOA for which Ghana rightly qualified.
The proclamation was the result of a public comment period and extensive interagency deliberations of each country's performance against the eligibility criteria established in the Act. On January 18, 2001, Swaziland was designated as the 35th AGOA eligible country and on May 16, 2002 Côte d'Ivoire was designated as the 36th AGOA eligible country. On January 1, 2003 The Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo were designated as the 37th and 38th AGOA eligible countries. On January 1, 2004, Angola was designated as AGOA eligible. Effective January 1, 2004, however, the President removed the Central African Republic and Eritrea from the list of eligible countries. On December 10, 2004, the President designated Burkina Faso as AGOA eligible. Effective January 1, 2005, the President removed Côte d'Ivoire from the list of eligible countries. Effective January 1, 2006, the President designated Burundi as AGOA eligible and removed Mauritania from the list of eligible countries. Effective December 29, 2006, the President designated Liberia as AGOA eligible. Effective June 28, 2007, the President again designated Mauritania as AGOA eligible. The US Government will work with eligible countries to sustain their efforts to institute policy reforms, and with the remaining nine Sub-Saharan African countries to help them achieve eligibility.
GSP product eligibility
AGOA authorises the President to provide duty-free treatment under GSP for any article, after the US Trade Representative (USTR) and the US International Trade Commission (USITC) have determined that the article is not import-sensitive when imported from African countries. On December 21, 2000, the President extended duty-free treatment under GSP to AGOA eligible countries for more than 1,800 tariff line items in addition to the standard GSP list of approximately 4,600 items available to non-AGOA GSP beneficiary countries. The additional GSP line items which include such previously excluded items as footwear, luggage, handbags, watches, and flatware were implemented after an extensive process of public comment and review.
AGOA extends GSP for eligible sub-Saharan African beneficiaries until September 30, 2015. Sub-Saharan African beneficiary countries are also exempted from competitive need limitations which cap the GSP benefits available to beneficiaries in other regions.
Apparel provisions
AGOA provides duty-free and quota-free treatment for eligible apparel articles made in qualifying sub-Saharan African countries through 2015. Qualifying articles include: Apparel made of U.S. yarns and fabrics; apparel made of sub-Saharan African (regional) yarns and fabrics until 2015, subject to a cap; apparel made in a designated lesser-developed country of third-country yarns and fabrics until 2012, subject to a cap; apparel made of yarns and fabrics not produced in commercial quantities in the United States; textile or textile articles originating entirely in one or more lesser-developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries; certain cashmere and merino wool sweaters; and eligible handloomed, handmade, or folklore articles, and ethnic printed fabrics.
Ghana and AGOA
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides a unique opportunity for Ghana's non-traditional export to penetrate the US market, which remains one of the most strategic global markets of the world. Under this, Ghana is to benefit from increased trade and investment through duty-free and quota-free access to the US market for essentially over 6,000 products, including textile and garments as well as such other products as cassava starch which comes under the President's Special Initiative Project to take advantage of the AGOA package.
Bi-lateral trade between Ghana and the United States was relatively well-balanced in recent years, although 2002 saw a sharp drop in exports to the US. In 2002, exports from Ghana to the US amounted to $ 76 million, while imports were almost $ 200 million. This resulted in the country recording significant trade deficit with the US of $ 76 million.
Ghana's main export categories to the U.S. consist of 'forest products', 'agricultural products', 'energy-related products' and 'minerals and metals'. Exports eligible under AGOA amounted to $34.8 million in 2002 (43 million in 2001), and consisted mostly of 'energy-related' products (see link to Country Trade Profile below). On March 20, 2002, Ghana qualified for the 'Wearing Apparel' provisions. It is also classified as a 'Lesser Developed Country' in terms of AGOA, thus reaping the associated 'Rules of Origin' benefits (which allow third-country textile inputs until September 30, 2004). Although exports of 'textiles and garments' are insignificant vis-à-vis the country's other exports to the US, there are indications that AGOA-eligibility will stimulate this sector in future.
So then it was the turn of Ghana to host the Sixth AGOA US-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Co-operation Forum which was addressed by Ghana’s President John Agyekum Kufuor who said ; “Because of the great opportunities that AGOA promises to its stakeholders, this conference has been slated as one of the key events marking the 50th anniversary of Ghana’s independence, which we are celebrating throughout this year.”
“It is in this light that I welcome all ministers from AGOA-eligible Sub-Saharan countries who have met here to advance the continent’s trade and development agenda”.
He said an important feature of the AGOA meetings is the active interaction it promotes among all stakeholders of trade and development, namely government agencies, private sector operators, NGOs and civil society organisations. Their representatives here are welcome.
Many African countries now boast of democratically elected leaders as well as policies and programmes for reforms which aim firstly at growth and poverty reduction, and secondly, at making these countries a part of the multilateral arrangements which govern global trade.
As many as 39 countries are now eligible for AGOA benefits, having subjected themselves to rigorous requirements for qualification, including adherence to good governance, the rule of law, political pluralism, market-based economies, elimination of barriers to US Trade and Investment, Protection of Intellectual Property and the establishment of structures to fight corruption.
“But ladies and gentlemen, the AGOA Initiative expires in the year 2015. This means there are only eight years left to take advantage of the opportunity to export about 6,400 items, estimated at more than $10.0 trillion, to the US market without reciprocity. Given the time constraint and the very serious capacity challenges, Africa, we must admit, can hardly exploit the full benefits of this huge initiative.
I will, therefore, appeal first to the US government to extend the time span of AGOA to 20 years and then to the countries in Africa as well as our development partners in the US to design and implement specific, efficacious vehicles targeted at building the capacity of African nations. This is the surest way to make Africa competitive with other countries on the US market and grow our economies.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a tendency to see the benefits of AGOA from only the perspective of the African. But while signing the AGOA Acceleration Act in 2004, President Bush reminded his countrymen that, when America sells to Africa, it means employment for somebody in America.
The President said AGOA should, therefore, work both ways to everyone’s advantage, adding “ I will therefore encourage operators in the American private sector to increase their investments in Africa to cover more areas than just the extractive industries of oil and precious minerals. Venturing into agriculture, processing, manufacturing and tourism are some of the ways in which technology transfer and Africa’s capacity building must be given a boost. Relocation of factories and outsourcing ICT contracts to Africa could also add to capacity building to make Sub-Saharan Africa effective partners in trade.”
Happily, he told the distinguished ladies and gentlemen, “you have worked hard to produce the Strategic Framework for Accelerating the Implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is indeed geared to capacity-building, diversification of the product range that can be exported from the region, improved market access and supply capacity, all of which should enhance our chances of attracting investments. These are laudable objectives, supported by detailed programmes which are to inform the preparation of country-specific AGOA Response Strategies and Implementation Plans.”
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
BEFORE the year 2000, it had been the dream of many African countries to export most of their products to the United States, perhaps the biggest market they can have in the world. At every meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), African countries fought relentlessly to have free access to the US and the European market but with very little success.
Luckily, the US gave a positive response and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) was born to provide reforming African countries with the most liberal access to the U.S. market available to any country or region with which the United States does not have a free trade agreement.
AGOA supports US business by encouraging a reform of Africa's economic and commercial regimes, which will build stronger markets and more effective partners for US firms.
The beauty of the Act is that it expands the list of products which eligible sub-Saharan African countries may export to the United States, subject to zero import duty under what is termed the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP). While GSP covers approximately 4,600 items, AGOA GSP applies to more than 6,400 items. AGOA GSP provisions will be in effect until September 30, 2015.
To firm the idea, AGOA was signed into law on May 18, 2000 by the immediate past President of the United States of America (USA), Bill Clinton, as Title 1 of The Trade and Development Act of 2000. The Act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets.
When the current President George W. Bush assumed the reins of government, he signed amendments to AGOA, also known as AGOA II, into law on August 6, 2002 as Sec. 3108 of the Trade Act of 2002. AGOA II substantially expands preferential access for imports from beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries.
By modifying certain provisions of the AGOA, the AGOA Acceleration Act of 2004 (AGOA III, signed by President Bush on July 12, 2004) extends preferential access for imports from beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries until September 30, 2015; extends third country fabric provision for three years, from September 2004 until September 2007; and provides additional Congressional guidance to the administration on how to administer the textile provisions of the bill.
The Africa Investment Incentive Act of 2006 (signed by President Bush on December 20, 2006), further amends portions of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and is referred to as "AGOA IV". The legislation extends the third country fabric provision for an additional five years, from September 2007 until September 2012; adds an abundant supply provision; designates certain denim articles as being in abundant supply; and allows lesser developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries to export certain textile articles under AGOA.
Since its implementation, AGOA has encouraged substantial new investments, trade, and job creation in Africa. It has helped to promote sub-Saharan Africa's integration into the multilateral trading system and a more active role in global trade negotiations. It has also contributed to economic and commercial reforms which make African countries more attractive commercial partners for US companies.
Implementation
An AGOA implementation subcommittee of the Trade Policy Staff Committee (TPSC) was established to implement AGOA. Among the most important implementation issues are the following:
. Determination of country eligibility;
. Determination of the products eligible for zero tariff under expansion of the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP);
. Determination of compliance with the conditions for apparel benefits;
. Establishment of the US-sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Forum; and
. Provision for technical assistance to help countries qualify for benefits.
Country eligibility
The U.S. Government intends that the largest possible number of Sub-Saharan African countries should be able to take advantage of AGOA. President Clinton issued a proclamation on October 2, 2000 designating 34 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as eligible for the trade benefits of AGOA for which Ghana rightly qualified.
The proclamation was the result of a public comment period and extensive interagency deliberations of each country's performance against the eligibility criteria established in the Act. On January 18, 2001, Swaziland was designated as the 35th AGOA eligible country and on May 16, 2002 Côte d'Ivoire was designated as the 36th AGOA eligible country. On January 1, 2003 The Gambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo were designated as the 37th and 38th AGOA eligible countries. On January 1, 2004, Angola was designated as AGOA eligible. Effective January 1, 2004, however, the President removed the Central African Republic and Eritrea from the list of eligible countries. On December 10, 2004, the President designated Burkina Faso as AGOA eligible. Effective January 1, 2005, the President removed Côte d'Ivoire from the list of eligible countries. Effective January 1, 2006, the President designated Burundi as AGOA eligible and removed Mauritania from the list of eligible countries. Effective December 29, 2006, the President designated Liberia as AGOA eligible. Effective June 28, 2007, the President again designated Mauritania as AGOA eligible. The US Government will work with eligible countries to sustain their efforts to institute policy reforms, and with the remaining nine Sub-Saharan African countries to help them achieve eligibility.
GSP product eligibility
AGOA authorises the President to provide duty-free treatment under GSP for any article, after the US Trade Representative (USTR) and the US International Trade Commission (USITC) have determined that the article is not import-sensitive when imported from African countries. On December 21, 2000, the President extended duty-free treatment under GSP to AGOA eligible countries for more than 1,800 tariff line items in addition to the standard GSP list of approximately 4,600 items available to non-AGOA GSP beneficiary countries. The additional GSP line items which include such previously excluded items as footwear, luggage, handbags, watches, and flatware were implemented after an extensive process of public comment and review.
AGOA extends GSP for eligible sub-Saharan African beneficiaries until September 30, 2015. Sub-Saharan African beneficiary countries are also exempted from competitive need limitations which cap the GSP benefits available to beneficiaries in other regions.
Apparel provisions
AGOA provides duty-free and quota-free treatment for eligible apparel articles made in qualifying sub-Saharan African countries through 2015. Qualifying articles include: Apparel made of U.S. yarns and fabrics; apparel made of sub-Saharan African (regional) yarns and fabrics until 2015, subject to a cap; apparel made in a designated lesser-developed country of third-country yarns and fabrics until 2012, subject to a cap; apparel made of yarns and fabrics not produced in commercial quantities in the United States; textile or textile articles originating entirely in one or more lesser-developed beneficiary sub-Saharan African countries; certain cashmere and merino wool sweaters; and eligible handloomed, handmade, or folklore articles, and ethnic printed fabrics.
Ghana and AGOA
The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) provides a unique opportunity for Ghana's non-traditional export to penetrate the US market, which remains one of the most strategic global markets of the world. Under this, Ghana is to benefit from increased trade and investment through duty-free and quota-free access to the US market for essentially over 6,000 products, including textile and garments as well as such other products as cassava starch which comes under the President's Special Initiative Project to take advantage of the AGOA package.
Bi-lateral trade between Ghana and the United States was relatively well-balanced in recent years, although 2002 saw a sharp drop in exports to the US. In 2002, exports from Ghana to the US amounted to $ 76 million, while imports were almost $ 200 million. This resulted in the country recording significant trade deficit with the US of $ 76 million.
Ghana's main export categories to the U.S. consist of 'forest products', 'agricultural products', 'energy-related products' and 'minerals and metals'. Exports eligible under AGOA amounted to $34.8 million in 2002 (43 million in 2001), and consisted mostly of 'energy-related' products (see link to Country Trade Profile below). On March 20, 2002, Ghana qualified for the 'Wearing Apparel' provisions. It is also classified as a 'Lesser Developed Country' in terms of AGOA, thus reaping the associated 'Rules of Origin' benefits (which allow third-country textile inputs until September 30, 2004). Although exports of 'textiles and garments' are insignificant vis-à-vis the country's other exports to the US, there are indications that AGOA-eligibility will stimulate this sector in future.
So then it was the turn of Ghana to host the Sixth AGOA US-Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic Co-operation Forum which was addressed by Ghana’s President John Agyekum Kufuor who said ; “Because of the great opportunities that AGOA promises to its stakeholders, this conference has been slated as one of the key events marking the 50th anniversary of Ghana’s independence, which we are celebrating throughout this year.”
“It is in this light that I welcome all ministers from AGOA-eligible Sub-Saharan countries who have met here to advance the continent’s trade and development agenda”.
He said an important feature of the AGOA meetings is the active interaction it promotes among all stakeholders of trade and development, namely government agencies, private sector operators, NGOs and civil society organisations. Their representatives here are welcome.
Many African countries now boast of democratically elected leaders as well as policies and programmes for reforms which aim firstly at growth and poverty reduction, and secondly, at making these countries a part of the multilateral arrangements which govern global trade.
As many as 39 countries are now eligible for AGOA benefits, having subjected themselves to rigorous requirements for qualification, including adherence to good governance, the rule of law, political pluralism, market-based economies, elimination of barriers to US Trade and Investment, Protection of Intellectual Property and the establishment of structures to fight corruption.
“But ladies and gentlemen, the AGOA Initiative expires in the year 2015. This means there are only eight years left to take advantage of the opportunity to export about 6,400 items, estimated at more than $10.0 trillion, to the US market without reciprocity. Given the time constraint and the very serious capacity challenges, Africa, we must admit, can hardly exploit the full benefits of this huge initiative.
I will, therefore, appeal first to the US government to extend the time span of AGOA to 20 years and then to the countries in Africa as well as our development partners in the US to design and implement specific, efficacious vehicles targeted at building the capacity of African nations. This is the surest way to make Africa competitive with other countries on the US market and grow our economies.
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a tendency to see the benefits of AGOA from only the perspective of the African. But while signing the AGOA Acceleration Act in 2004, President Bush reminded his countrymen that, when America sells to Africa, it means employment for somebody in America.
The President said AGOA should, therefore, work both ways to everyone’s advantage, adding “ I will therefore encourage operators in the American private sector to increase their investments in Africa to cover more areas than just the extractive industries of oil and precious minerals. Venturing into agriculture, processing, manufacturing and tourism are some of the ways in which technology transfer and Africa’s capacity building must be given a boost. Relocation of factories and outsourcing ICT contracts to Africa could also add to capacity building to make Sub-Saharan Africa effective partners in trade.”
Happily, he told the distinguished ladies and gentlemen, “you have worked hard to produce the Strategic Framework for Accelerating the Implementation of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which is indeed geared to capacity-building, diversification of the product range that can be exported from the region, improved market access and supply capacity, all of which should enhance our chances of attracting investments. These are laudable objectives, supported by detailed programmes which are to inform the preparation of country-specific AGOA Response Strategies and Implementation Plans.”
Ministry prepares 2 bills for Cabinet
Page 3, Feb. 16/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment has prepared for the consideration of Cabinet two bills that will allow, for the first time, the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to directly source long-term credit from outside to support their development agendas.
They are the Local Government Finance Act and the Municipal Finance Authority Act which, together with the establishment of a financing authority, will help MMDAs to access long-term capital for infrastructural investment and improved service delivery.
The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, announced this at the weekend when he signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on behalf of the government with Cities Alliance, a global coalition of cities and their development partners committed to scaling up successful approaches to poverty reduction in Accra.
Present to witness the ceremony was a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Professor George Gyan-Baffuor.
The bills, when passed, are also expected to help to reduce risk and lower the cost of borrowing for the MMDAs, provide a focal point for the development partners who wish to support infrastructural development, as well as ensure credible co-operation among a variety of local government authorities.
According to Mr Jumah, the over-reliance on the government for funds for the various assemblies to embark on development projects in their areas was not enough to achieve the needed results.
“Getting the assemblies to go out there to borrow money for their projects is a laudable one and it will help them to develop faster,” he said.
Presently, the Constitution debars the assemblies from borrowing funds for development from any source, which means that the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) continues to remain the only source of funds for development.
Each year, 7.5 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country is disbursed to the various MMDAs to enable them to embark on projects for the people.
But Mr Jumah said the state allocation, which was not enough, considering the magnitude of projects that each assembly needed, also delayed most of the time, leaving projects uncompleted.
“Undoubtedly, the country has achieved significant political and administrative decentralisation, as well as decentralised planning,” he said.
However, fiscal decentralisation had remained an unyielding component of the process, he said.
“In this regard, this government has made significant efforts at strengthening local government finance and diversifying financing methods through reforming taxation and expenditure systems, reshaping inter-governmental transfers and privatising key projects,” he added.
Professor Gyan-Baffuor noted that when the bills were passed, the assemblies needed to be cautious to ensure that the money they borrowed was used judiciously for projects that would yield positive returns to defray the debt.
“We would not want a situation where the debt from the assemblies would be a national burden since, in the long term, it would be added to the total national debt stock,” he said.
Professor Gyan-Baffuor, therefore, advised Cities Alliance to ensure that when any approaches were made to it by the assemblies, a proper scrutiny of the proposals would be done to ensure that the projects had got the necessary returns to defray the debt.
Mr Kevin Milroy, Senior Operations Officer of Cities Alliance, said the alliance was committed to ensuring that what it had signed worked in the interest of all parties.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment has prepared for the consideration of Cabinet two bills that will allow, for the first time, the various metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to directly source long-term credit from outside to support their development agendas.
They are the Local Government Finance Act and the Municipal Finance Authority Act which, together with the establishment of a financing authority, will help MMDAs to access long-term capital for infrastructural investment and improved service delivery.
The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, announced this at the weekend when he signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on behalf of the government with Cities Alliance, a global coalition of cities and their development partners committed to scaling up successful approaches to poverty reduction in Accra.
Present to witness the ceremony was a Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Professor George Gyan-Baffuor.
The bills, when passed, are also expected to help to reduce risk and lower the cost of borrowing for the MMDAs, provide a focal point for the development partners who wish to support infrastructural development, as well as ensure credible co-operation among a variety of local government authorities.
According to Mr Jumah, the over-reliance on the government for funds for the various assemblies to embark on development projects in their areas was not enough to achieve the needed results.
“Getting the assemblies to go out there to borrow money for their projects is a laudable one and it will help them to develop faster,” he said.
Presently, the Constitution debars the assemblies from borrowing funds for development from any source, which means that the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) continues to remain the only source of funds for development.
Each year, 7.5 per cent of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country is disbursed to the various MMDAs to enable them to embark on projects for the people.
But Mr Jumah said the state allocation, which was not enough, considering the magnitude of projects that each assembly needed, also delayed most of the time, leaving projects uncompleted.
“Undoubtedly, the country has achieved significant political and administrative decentralisation, as well as decentralised planning,” he said.
However, fiscal decentralisation had remained an unyielding component of the process, he said.
“In this regard, this government has made significant efforts at strengthening local government finance and diversifying financing methods through reforming taxation and expenditure systems, reshaping inter-governmental transfers and privatising key projects,” he added.
Professor Gyan-Baffuor noted that when the bills were passed, the assemblies needed to be cautious to ensure that the money they borrowed was used judiciously for projects that would yield positive returns to defray the debt.
“We would not want a situation where the debt from the assemblies would be a national burden since, in the long term, it would be added to the total national debt stock,” he said.
Professor Gyan-Baffuor, therefore, advised Cities Alliance to ensure that when any approaches were made to it by the assemblies, a proper scrutiny of the proposals would be done to ensure that the projects had got the necessary returns to defray the debt.
Mr Kevin Milroy, Senior Operations Officer of Cities Alliance, said the alliance was committed to ensuring that what it had signed worked in the interest of all parties.
'Sustained economic growth will ensure more jobs'
Spread Feb 16/2008
Story: Graphic Reporters
INDUSTRY leaders in the country have said it is refreshing to have heard President Kufuor acknowledge the need to move from macro-economic stability in the economy to growth at his last State of the Nation Address delivered on Thursday. Reports Boahene Asamoah.
According to them, while macro-economic stability was a necessary condition for economic growth, it was not sufficient.
Speaking in two separate interviews, the presidents of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), the umbrella organisation of trade and industry, Mr Wilson Atta Krofah, and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, stressed the need for the necessary policies to be pursued to ensure growth in the economy.
According to Mr Oteng-Gyasi, “sustained economic growth is the surest way to go to ensure employment generation and economic development”.
He, however, said the process of ensuring economic take-off should not be left to the next government to pursue, saying that the present government ought to start the process of ensuring economic growth.
Mr Oteng-Gyasi mentioned the need to look at the micro level to address constraints that affected the different micro sectors of the economy, adding that such a policy would help to address the shortfalls in the various sectors and fashion out a strategy to address the constraints in each sector.
He also mentioned the need for a second look to be taken at the Labour Law, stressing that a “one-size” labour policy for all sectors was not appropriate.
The President of the AGI stated that the Labour Law, as it existed now, did not address the concerns of all the sectors of the economy, adding that “there should be specific labour laws for different sectors”.
On the interest charges by banks, Mr Oteng-Gyasi said the central bank had to play a more facilitating role by ensuring that banks reduced interest rates.
“These are the kind of policies that will help to anchor industrial take-off,” he stated.
For his part, Mr Krofah stated that while there had been some achievement in maintaining macro-economic stability, a lot still needed to be done.
He said the issue of mechanised agriculture needed to be given priority attention, since that would lead to industrialisation of the economy and propel economic growth and development.
He said there was the need for the government to pursue that agenda more vigorously to attract investments into the agricultural sector as part of its policy to modernise agriculture.
Mr Krofah noted that agricultural mechanisation had the potential to break the back of unemployment in the country and also accelerate the country’s pace of development.
On the oil find in the country, Mr Krofah said the government must ensure that the country benefited from the find, adding that “the country must be able to negotiate for about 30 per cent of the deal instead of the current 10 per cent being speculated”.
Again, he said Ghanaian entrepreneurs must be encouraged to take advantage of downstream businesses associated with the oil industry, stressing that “Ghanaian entrepreneurs must take centre stage in this business”.
The President of the GNCCI welcomed President’s Kufuor’s decision to set up a committee that would manage the resources from the oil find to yield greater benefits for all Ghanaians.
In another development, a researcher at the Institute of Statistics, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Dr Robert Darko Osei, has also said the next government must work towards consolidating the gains achieved by the Kufuor administration by ensuring that the manufacturing sector becomes vibrant to accelerate the growth of the economy, reports Charles Benoni Okine
Dr Osei, who was expressing his views on the President’s State of the Nation Address, noted that the country abounded in a lot of natural resources and that adding value to them before export would improve the manufacturing sector and create jobs for the majority of the people.
According to him, in spite of the relatively stable macro-economic situation under the Kufuor administration, many people still lacked jobs because most of Ghana’s raw materials, including cocoa and the non-traditional products such as pineapples, mango and oranges, were exported in the raw form.
He said, for instance, that although Ghana earned some money from royalties paid on gold, it was not enough to sustain the economy and called for a solid manufacturing sector to add value to the country’s gold and create jobs for the people.
Dr Osei noted that the government focused on providing the platform for accelerated growth which had been largely achieved through macro-economic stability.
Inflation, which hovered around 40 per cent in 2001, had been reduced to about 11 per cent, while interest rates, which also stood at about 52 per cent during the same period, had dropped to between 18 and 23 per cent, he said.
In spite of those achievements, he said, many people continued to complain about the lack of money to cater for their basic needs.
He described the micro-economic aspect of every economy as crucial if people were to benefit from the successes of a regime.
Dr Osei pointed out that the economy had been able to withstand external and internal shocks such as high crude oil prices and the energy crisis because of the heavy inflows from donors.
He mentioned the Multi-Donor Budgetary Support (MDBS), a basket into which many of the country’s donors put money for the government to use to enhance its development agenda, and inflows from the HIPC initiative as some of the major cushions of the economy.
Dr Osei cautioned, however, that that inflow of resources was not sustainable and added that when those resources dwindled, it would negatively impact on the country’s economy, as was the case in the past.
It was against that background that he asked for the strengthening of the manufacturing sector to propel the country to the next level.
Caroline Boateng also reports that the Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, said the President missed the opportunity to assure all of peaceful elections, the prudent exploitation of the country’s oil find and a country free of drugs.
He said the President’s comments on the professionalism and neutrality of staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) could be right but said that could not be depended on for peaceful elections.
Dr Akwetey said no one could assume that peaceful elections had been assured based on the President’s statement that the EC was professional and neutral.
“In Kenya, enormous pressure was brought to bear on the electoral commission there, leading to the mess created there now,” he said.
He said public education was needed at the electoral levels to secure the credibility of the voting process, the counting of the ballots and the transfer of results to the headquarters of the EC.
On the security of the country and the challenge of drug trafficking, Dr Akwetey was not happy that the President did not give details of measures to improve and strengthen security agencies in the country.
He said issues about the substitution of drugs in the custody of the police with other substances and the alleged complicity of the security agencies in the trafficking of drugs were worrying and needed a Presidential pronouncement to assure Ghanaians on how the government was tackling those problems.
A lawyer and acting Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Prof Kofi Quashigah, shared similar views, saying that the issue of drugs, conflicts and the security of the country were important issues that should have been talked about in the President’s address.
He said those issues tended to undermine the gains made in good governance and needed clear-cut measures from the President on how they were to be solved.
Prof Quashigah expressed the hope that the President’s announcement of a commission to administer the oil find of the country would not only be limited to the resources gained but extend to establishing prudent initiatives to reduce the harmful environmental effects of exploration.
Story: Graphic Reporters
INDUSTRY leaders in the country have said it is refreshing to have heard President Kufuor acknowledge the need to move from macro-economic stability in the economy to growth at his last State of the Nation Address delivered on Thursday. Reports Boahene Asamoah.
According to them, while macro-economic stability was a necessary condition for economic growth, it was not sufficient.
Speaking in two separate interviews, the presidents of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GNCCI), the umbrella organisation of trade and industry, Mr Wilson Atta Krofah, and the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, stressed the need for the necessary policies to be pursued to ensure growth in the economy.
According to Mr Oteng-Gyasi, “sustained economic growth is the surest way to go to ensure employment generation and economic development”.
He, however, said the process of ensuring economic take-off should not be left to the next government to pursue, saying that the present government ought to start the process of ensuring economic growth.
Mr Oteng-Gyasi mentioned the need to look at the micro level to address constraints that affected the different micro sectors of the economy, adding that such a policy would help to address the shortfalls in the various sectors and fashion out a strategy to address the constraints in each sector.
He also mentioned the need for a second look to be taken at the Labour Law, stressing that a “one-size” labour policy for all sectors was not appropriate.
The President of the AGI stated that the Labour Law, as it existed now, did not address the concerns of all the sectors of the economy, adding that “there should be specific labour laws for different sectors”.
On the interest charges by banks, Mr Oteng-Gyasi said the central bank had to play a more facilitating role by ensuring that banks reduced interest rates.
“These are the kind of policies that will help to anchor industrial take-off,” he stated.
For his part, Mr Krofah stated that while there had been some achievement in maintaining macro-economic stability, a lot still needed to be done.
He said the issue of mechanised agriculture needed to be given priority attention, since that would lead to industrialisation of the economy and propel economic growth and development.
He said there was the need for the government to pursue that agenda more vigorously to attract investments into the agricultural sector as part of its policy to modernise agriculture.
Mr Krofah noted that agricultural mechanisation had the potential to break the back of unemployment in the country and also accelerate the country’s pace of development.
On the oil find in the country, Mr Krofah said the government must ensure that the country benefited from the find, adding that “the country must be able to negotiate for about 30 per cent of the deal instead of the current 10 per cent being speculated”.
Again, he said Ghanaian entrepreneurs must be encouraged to take advantage of downstream businesses associated with the oil industry, stressing that “Ghanaian entrepreneurs must take centre stage in this business”.
The President of the GNCCI welcomed President’s Kufuor’s decision to set up a committee that would manage the resources from the oil find to yield greater benefits for all Ghanaians.
In another development, a researcher at the Institute of Statistics, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, Dr Robert Darko Osei, has also said the next government must work towards consolidating the gains achieved by the Kufuor administration by ensuring that the manufacturing sector becomes vibrant to accelerate the growth of the economy, reports Charles Benoni Okine
Dr Osei, who was expressing his views on the President’s State of the Nation Address, noted that the country abounded in a lot of natural resources and that adding value to them before export would improve the manufacturing sector and create jobs for the majority of the people.
According to him, in spite of the relatively stable macro-economic situation under the Kufuor administration, many people still lacked jobs because most of Ghana’s raw materials, including cocoa and the non-traditional products such as pineapples, mango and oranges, were exported in the raw form.
He said, for instance, that although Ghana earned some money from royalties paid on gold, it was not enough to sustain the economy and called for a solid manufacturing sector to add value to the country’s gold and create jobs for the people.
Dr Osei noted that the government focused on providing the platform for accelerated growth which had been largely achieved through macro-economic stability.
Inflation, which hovered around 40 per cent in 2001, had been reduced to about 11 per cent, while interest rates, which also stood at about 52 per cent during the same period, had dropped to between 18 and 23 per cent, he said.
In spite of those achievements, he said, many people continued to complain about the lack of money to cater for their basic needs.
He described the micro-economic aspect of every economy as crucial if people were to benefit from the successes of a regime.
Dr Osei pointed out that the economy had been able to withstand external and internal shocks such as high crude oil prices and the energy crisis because of the heavy inflows from donors.
He mentioned the Multi-Donor Budgetary Support (MDBS), a basket into which many of the country’s donors put money for the government to use to enhance its development agenda, and inflows from the HIPC initiative as some of the major cushions of the economy.
Dr Osei cautioned, however, that that inflow of resources was not sustainable and added that when those resources dwindled, it would negatively impact on the country’s economy, as was the case in the past.
It was against that background that he asked for the strengthening of the manufacturing sector to propel the country to the next level.
Caroline Boateng also reports that the Executive Director of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Dr Emmanuel Akwetey, said the President missed the opportunity to assure all of peaceful elections, the prudent exploitation of the country’s oil find and a country free of drugs.
He said the President’s comments on the professionalism and neutrality of staff of the Electoral Commission (EC) could be right but said that could not be depended on for peaceful elections.
Dr Akwetey said no one could assume that peaceful elections had been assured based on the President’s statement that the EC was professional and neutral.
“In Kenya, enormous pressure was brought to bear on the electoral commission there, leading to the mess created there now,” he said.
He said public education was needed at the electoral levels to secure the credibility of the voting process, the counting of the ballots and the transfer of results to the headquarters of the EC.
On the security of the country and the challenge of drug trafficking, Dr Akwetey was not happy that the President did not give details of measures to improve and strengthen security agencies in the country.
He said issues about the substitution of drugs in the custody of the police with other substances and the alleged complicity of the security agencies in the trafficking of drugs were worrying and needed a Presidential pronouncement to assure Ghanaians on how the government was tackling those problems.
A lawyer and acting Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Prof Kofi Quashigah, shared similar views, saying that the issue of drugs, conflicts and the security of the country were important issues that should have been talked about in the President’s address.
He said those issues tended to undermine the gains made in good governance and needed clear-cut measures from the President on how they were to be solved.
Prof Quashigah expressed the hope that the President’s announcement of a commission to administer the oil find of the country would not only be limited to the resources gained but extend to establishing prudent initiatives to reduce the harmful environmental effects of exploration.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Support of women was massive during Ghana 2008
Womens pg Feb. 14/2008
It was perhaps, never expected that the support of women will be massive at the just ended Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament.
But the women supporters surprised all as they were seen at every match in their numbers singing, dancing, shouting and clapping to urge the players on.
From observation, apart from supporting the Black Stars as usual because they are Ghanaians, they also ensured that they cheered all the teams up to give off their best.
What was even more amazing was at the grand finals where Egypt played Cameroun at the Ohene Gyan Stadium.
The women supporters led by their President, Ms Freda Prempeh were at hand to cheer the two teams right from the blast of the whistle and deep into the night after the cup had been presented to Egypt which lifted the trophy for the sixth time after the team pipped Cameroun.
Pic: Ms Prempeh (second righ, front row) leading a large crowd of women supporters as they paraded the entire stadium to announce their presence.
Picture caption by Charles Benoni Okine
It was perhaps, never expected that the support of women will be massive at the just ended Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament.
But the women supporters surprised all as they were seen at every match in their numbers singing, dancing, shouting and clapping to urge the players on.
From observation, apart from supporting the Black Stars as usual because they are Ghanaians, they also ensured that they cheered all the teams up to give off their best.
What was even more amazing was at the grand finals where Egypt played Cameroun at the Ohene Gyan Stadium.
The women supporters led by their President, Ms Freda Prempeh were at hand to cheer the two teams right from the blast of the whistle and deep into the night after the cup had been presented to Egypt which lifted the trophy for the sixth time after the team pipped Cameroun.
Pic: Ms Prempeh (second righ, front row) leading a large crowd of women supporters as they paraded the entire stadium to announce their presence.
Picture caption by Charles Benoni Okine
Experts caution Ghanaians on changing election date
Political pg Feb 14/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
SOME governance experts have cautioned Ghanaians, particularly Christians, against any calls for a change in the date of this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
“We should remember that Ghana is a secular state; Ghana is not tied to any religious body and must be recognised as such in the interest of all”, they stressed and added that “religion should not be an issue at all as far as this voting date is concerned”
The experts, Mr Kwesi Jonah of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and Mr Ransford Gyampo, a Political Science lecturer of the University of Ghana, Legon, gave the caution in two separate interviews with the Daily Graphic in reaction to concerns by sections of the public that should the December 7 date for the elections, which falls on a Sunday be allowed to stand, millions of Christians may not be able to vote.
The date is expected to generate a lot of debate with people expected to call for an amendment of the Constitution to fix a specific day for the elections.
Since the inception of the Fourth Republican Constitution, general elections have been held on weekdays.
For instance, the 2000 and 2004 general election days were Thursday and Tuesday respectively, and when it fell on a Saturday in 1996, the Adventists also raised issues about the date amidst threats of a boycott.
The experts cautioned Ghanaians against that this time round, in order not to prevent confusion in the country.
Mr Jonah said “we need not open a Pandora’s box over this issue because it is a non-starter”.
He said there were many other religious bodies in the country which would also complain should the date be changed to suit Christians.
“There are the Adventists who worship on Saturdays and that day they do not work; There are those traditionalists who also have some days on which they do not do anything but stay in the shrine with their followers alone; we also have the Buddhists and the Yogi here with us and they also have their days”, he said.
Mr Jonah said people could go to church and come to vote without any hindrance.
For his part, Mr Gyampo reiterated the issue about Ghana being a secular country for which reason no religious organisation can claim to be dominant when it comes to issues of national concern.
“We have nothing to worry about because we are all equal before the law”, he added.
Mr Gyampo said Christians could go to church and cast their ballot later and “I do not think this would affect them”.
Another issue that is also being advanced is the use of churches as polling stations on election day.
But Mr Gyampo was of the view that church services would not impact on the success of the elections.
“The Electoral Commission (EC) could discuss the issue with the churches and I believe a comprise could easily be reached on the use of their premises without any hitches, ” Mr Gyampo said.
Every religious body has a day it reveres and considers sacred and, therefore, Ghanaians need to be cautious when talking about the date.
“We all have rights and, therefore, no group should be considered to be more powerful than the other”, he added.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
SOME governance experts have cautioned Ghanaians, particularly Christians, against any calls for a change in the date of this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
“We should remember that Ghana is a secular state; Ghana is not tied to any religious body and must be recognised as such in the interest of all”, they stressed and added that “religion should not be an issue at all as far as this voting date is concerned”
The experts, Mr Kwesi Jonah of the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) and Mr Ransford Gyampo, a Political Science lecturer of the University of Ghana, Legon, gave the caution in two separate interviews with the Daily Graphic in reaction to concerns by sections of the public that should the December 7 date for the elections, which falls on a Sunday be allowed to stand, millions of Christians may not be able to vote.
The date is expected to generate a lot of debate with people expected to call for an amendment of the Constitution to fix a specific day for the elections.
Since the inception of the Fourth Republican Constitution, general elections have been held on weekdays.
For instance, the 2000 and 2004 general election days were Thursday and Tuesday respectively, and when it fell on a Saturday in 1996, the Adventists also raised issues about the date amidst threats of a boycott.
The experts cautioned Ghanaians against that this time round, in order not to prevent confusion in the country.
Mr Jonah said “we need not open a Pandora’s box over this issue because it is a non-starter”.
He said there were many other religious bodies in the country which would also complain should the date be changed to suit Christians.
“There are the Adventists who worship on Saturdays and that day they do not work; There are those traditionalists who also have some days on which they do not do anything but stay in the shrine with their followers alone; we also have the Buddhists and the Yogi here with us and they also have their days”, he said.
Mr Jonah said people could go to church and come to vote without any hindrance.
For his part, Mr Gyampo reiterated the issue about Ghana being a secular country for which reason no religious organisation can claim to be dominant when it comes to issues of national concern.
“We have nothing to worry about because we are all equal before the law”, he added.
Mr Gyampo said Christians could go to church and cast their ballot later and “I do not think this would affect them”.
Another issue that is also being advanced is the use of churches as polling stations on election day.
But Mr Gyampo was of the view that church services would not impact on the success of the elections.
“The Electoral Commission (EC) could discuss the issue with the churches and I believe a comprise could easily be reached on the use of their premises without any hitches, ” Mr Gyampo said.
Every religious body has a day it reveres and considers sacred and, therefore, Ghanaians need to be cautious when talking about the date.
“We all have rights and, therefore, no group should be considered to be more powerful than the other”, he added.
Housing projects starved of funds
Back pg (Lead) Feb 14, 2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine, Kpone
LACK of funds is said to be affecting the pace of work on the government’s affordable housing projects at Kpone and Borteyman in Accra.
The snail pace of work on the project has, therefore, raised doubts as to whether the proposed completion date of the first phase of the project by the middle of this year will come to pass.
Late last year, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, told the Daily Graphic that 4,500 affordable housing units would be ready for occupation in June, this year.
According to him, the bed sitter, single and two-bedroom apartments, which are situated at Borteyman and Kpone in Accra and Asokore Mampong in the Ashanti Region, would either be given out for rent or outright purchase to Ghanaians, particularly public servants.
To facilitate the speedy completion of the project, he said the government had released an additional GH¢16.9 million for payment to contractors on the project.
But a tour of the project sites by a Daily Graphic news team revealed that only a few of the housing units were nearing completion while a large number were not.
It was also observed that more than 50 per cent of the structures were still at the lintel stage with only about 20 that were fully plastered and half painted.
Only a handful of workers were on site doing some concrete works while others were busily fixing the windows to a few of the structures that had reached an advanced stage.
Some of the contractors on site told the Daily Graphic that the delay in the release of funds was the major hindrance to the progress of work on the project.
According to them, as and when funds were released they were ready to continue with the work.
The contractors said there had been instances where their managers had gone in for loans from the banks but releases from the sector ministry had been slow, a situation which did not encourage others to do same because of the high interest rate charged by the banks.
When contacted, sources close to the sector ministry indicated that the Minister, Mr Abubakar Saddique Boniface, and his team were mounting a lot of pressure on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to release funds to get the work on the project expedited to enable the government to meet the mid-year target.
Some of the structures were yet to get off the ground while a few dozens were still at the foundation stages.
The road network had been clearly demarcated but were not tarred and looked too narrow to accommodate two vehicles at a go.
The drains to carry waste water from the various units had not been started.
One of the major projects, the construction of the central septic tank to carry all the waste from the units, had also not started.
However, in spite of the slow pace of the project, the quality of work was not in doubt.
The apartments, which would go for outright sale, would range between GH¢12,000 and GH¢20,000 and would be spread over a payment period of between 10 and 20 years.
Sod was cut on September 1, 2005, to mark the commencement of the multi-million dollar affordable housing project at Borteyman and other parts of the country including Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and Tamale in the Northern Region.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine, Kpone
LACK of funds is said to be affecting the pace of work on the government’s affordable housing projects at Kpone and Borteyman in Accra.
The snail pace of work on the project has, therefore, raised doubts as to whether the proposed completion date of the first phase of the project by the middle of this year will come to pass.
Late last year, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface, told the Daily Graphic that 4,500 affordable housing units would be ready for occupation in June, this year.
According to him, the bed sitter, single and two-bedroom apartments, which are situated at Borteyman and Kpone in Accra and Asokore Mampong in the Ashanti Region, would either be given out for rent or outright purchase to Ghanaians, particularly public servants.
To facilitate the speedy completion of the project, he said the government had released an additional GH¢16.9 million for payment to contractors on the project.
But a tour of the project sites by a Daily Graphic news team revealed that only a few of the housing units were nearing completion while a large number were not.
It was also observed that more than 50 per cent of the structures were still at the lintel stage with only about 20 that were fully plastered and half painted.
Only a handful of workers were on site doing some concrete works while others were busily fixing the windows to a few of the structures that had reached an advanced stage.
Some of the contractors on site told the Daily Graphic that the delay in the release of funds was the major hindrance to the progress of work on the project.
According to them, as and when funds were released they were ready to continue with the work.
The contractors said there had been instances where their managers had gone in for loans from the banks but releases from the sector ministry had been slow, a situation which did not encourage others to do same because of the high interest rate charged by the banks.
When contacted, sources close to the sector ministry indicated that the Minister, Mr Abubakar Saddique Boniface, and his team were mounting a lot of pressure on the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to release funds to get the work on the project expedited to enable the government to meet the mid-year target.
Some of the structures were yet to get off the ground while a few dozens were still at the foundation stages.
The road network had been clearly demarcated but were not tarred and looked too narrow to accommodate two vehicles at a go.
The drains to carry waste water from the various units had not been started.
One of the major projects, the construction of the central septic tank to carry all the waste from the units, had also not started.
However, in spite of the slow pace of the project, the quality of work was not in doubt.
The apartments, which would go for outright sale, would range between GH¢12,000 and GH¢20,000 and would be spread over a payment period of between 10 and 20 years.
Sod was cut on September 1, 2005, to mark the commencement of the multi-million dollar affordable housing project at Borteyman and other parts of the country including Kumasi in the Ashanti Region and Tamale in the Northern Region.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Aqua Vitens improves on revenue generation
Business Pg Feb. 13/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
AQUA Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL), managers of Ghana Water Company Limited, increased its revenue generation to GH¢61.4 million in 2007 from GH¢51.6 million which it recorded 2006.
The management contractors attributed the 20 per cent revenue increase to prudent operations and improvement in the billing system, which raised revenue collection levels by about 25 per cent.
The General Manager, Liaison of the company, Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, told the Daily Graphic that “the actual volume of water sold grew by a modest four per cent, contributing to the growth in revenue collection”.
“This growth in revenue collection also was partly due to a tariff increase in 2007, and the company's success in identifying and billing commercial users who were previously paying domestic tariffs,” he stated.
Mr Sakyi-Addo said the AVRL had also established Loss Control Teams to educate the public, as well as reduce illegal water-related activities, an area which denied the company huge sums of revenue.
“The revenues are being used to pay for operations, provide transport, refurbish head works, improve the work environment and for computerising internal communications facilities,” he stated.
Additionally, a lot of investments would go into the repair and maintenance of existing facilities across the country as well as put up a call centre to improve customer service delivery.
The company is presently working on the provision of up to 1.5 million gallons of water from mechanised bore holes in some parts of Accra to augment water supply to consumers within the underserved areas, including Achimota, Taifa, Ashongman, Madina and surrounding areas.
The total demand for water in the region stands at about 140 million galllons a day; about 50 million gallons more than the production from the two main sources, Weija and Kpong Water Works.
Mr Sakyi-Addo said work was underway at Weija to increase production levels by an additional 15 million gallons by the middle of the year to reduce the water deficit in the region to about 34 million gallons a day.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
AQUA Vitens Rand Limited (AVRL), managers of Ghana Water Company Limited, increased its revenue generation to GH¢61.4 million in 2007 from GH¢51.6 million which it recorded 2006.
The management contractors attributed the 20 per cent revenue increase to prudent operations and improvement in the billing system, which raised revenue collection levels by about 25 per cent.
The General Manager, Liaison of the company, Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, told the Daily Graphic that “the actual volume of water sold grew by a modest four per cent, contributing to the growth in revenue collection”.
“This growth in revenue collection also was partly due to a tariff increase in 2007, and the company's success in identifying and billing commercial users who were previously paying domestic tariffs,” he stated.
Mr Sakyi-Addo said the AVRL had also established Loss Control Teams to educate the public, as well as reduce illegal water-related activities, an area which denied the company huge sums of revenue.
“The revenues are being used to pay for operations, provide transport, refurbish head works, improve the work environment and for computerising internal communications facilities,” he stated.
Additionally, a lot of investments would go into the repair and maintenance of existing facilities across the country as well as put up a call centre to improve customer service delivery.
The company is presently working on the provision of up to 1.5 million gallons of water from mechanised bore holes in some parts of Accra to augment water supply to consumers within the underserved areas, including Achimota, Taifa, Ashongman, Madina and surrounding areas.
The total demand for water in the region stands at about 140 million galllons a day; about 50 million gallons more than the production from the two main sources, Weija and Kpong Water Works.
Mr Sakyi-Addo said work was underway at Weija to increase production levels by an additional 15 million gallons by the middle of the year to reduce the water deficit in the region to about 34 million gallons a day.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Mt Olivet Meth Church supports James Camp Prisons
Metro (lead) Feb. 12/2008
Story & Pic: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Officer in charge of the James Camp Prisons on the premises of the Borstal Institute, Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP) Mr Darko Missah, has urged society to open-heartedly accept freed prisoners into their fold as part of the reformation process.
“If you do not stigmatise them but accept and counsel them as one of you, they will be better reformed and not be tempted to go back to their old ways,” he added.
Mr Missah gave the advice when he received assorted food items from the Mount Olivet Methodist Church, Dansoman.
The items included loaves of bread, bags of rice and sugar, toiletries and Bibles, and the gesture formed part of the church's contribution towards the upkeep of prisoners in the country.
Mr Missah said there were three categories of inmates within the prisons and the third group were people who, as a result of neglect by society, and which included their families and friends, got back to their old ways only to be brought back to the prison.
“We believe that if society accepts them open-heartedly, they will stay at home and practise what they have learnt during the reformation process at the prisons,” he added.
Mr Missah expressed the gratitude of the prison to the church for the gesture and expressed the hope that other groups would emulate its example and help bring comfort and hope to the inmates.
“Through prayers and words of exhortation, they feel at home and want to be back into society to contribute their quota to national development and we are happy the Mount Olivet Methodist Church has come to worship with them and also to give them something to live on,” he said.
The leader of the delegation, Reverend Richardson Andam, told the inmates not to be discouraged because “Jesus is a universal saviour and will save you”.
“Jesus came to cleanse all humans from their sinful ways and is ready to forgive those who sin and repent of their sins. Therefore, be strong and believe in the Lord Jesus because he is there to save you,” he added.
It was an emotional period when the Reverend asked the inmates to pray for forgiveness from God.
Almost all of them were heard praying very loudly with some in tears and after they had finished, the James Camp choir, solely made up of inmates of the camp, sang praises and Methodist hymnals to the amusement of the visitors.
The Co-ordinator of Evangelism of the church, Mr Asibri Annan, also gave the inmates some words of exhortation and asked them to open their hearts to receive Christ as their saviour.
Story & Pic: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Officer in charge of the James Camp Prisons on the premises of the Borstal Institute, Assistant Director of Prisons (ADP) Mr Darko Missah, has urged society to open-heartedly accept freed prisoners into their fold as part of the reformation process.
“If you do not stigmatise them but accept and counsel them as one of you, they will be better reformed and not be tempted to go back to their old ways,” he added.
Mr Missah gave the advice when he received assorted food items from the Mount Olivet Methodist Church, Dansoman.
The items included loaves of bread, bags of rice and sugar, toiletries and Bibles, and the gesture formed part of the church's contribution towards the upkeep of prisoners in the country.
Mr Missah said there were three categories of inmates within the prisons and the third group were people who, as a result of neglect by society, and which included their families and friends, got back to their old ways only to be brought back to the prison.
“We believe that if society accepts them open-heartedly, they will stay at home and practise what they have learnt during the reformation process at the prisons,” he added.
Mr Missah expressed the gratitude of the prison to the church for the gesture and expressed the hope that other groups would emulate its example and help bring comfort and hope to the inmates.
“Through prayers and words of exhortation, they feel at home and want to be back into society to contribute their quota to national development and we are happy the Mount Olivet Methodist Church has come to worship with them and also to give them something to live on,” he said.
The leader of the delegation, Reverend Richardson Andam, told the inmates not to be discouraged because “Jesus is a universal saviour and will save you”.
“Jesus came to cleanse all humans from their sinful ways and is ready to forgive those who sin and repent of their sins. Therefore, be strong and believe in the Lord Jesus because he is there to save you,” he added.
It was an emotional period when the Reverend asked the inmates to pray for forgiveness from God.
Almost all of them were heard praying very loudly with some in tears and after they had finished, the James Camp choir, solely made up of inmates of the camp, sang praises and Methodist hymnals to the amusement of the visitors.
The Co-ordinator of Evangelism of the church, Mr Asibri Annan, also gave the inmates some words of exhortation and asked them to open their hearts to receive Christ as their saviour.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Govt must reduce stake in PBC
Business (lead) Feb. 11/2008
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), K.S. Yamoah, has called on the government to reduce its shareholding in the Produce Buying Company (PBC), the only state-owned cocoa purchasing company to improve the performance of its shares on the exchange.
He said the positive performance of the company last year had raised public interest in the company and noted that the time was ripe for the government to release part of its shares to the public.
Mr Yamoah made the call last Friday when the management of the PBC took its turn at the “Facts behind the Figures” on the floor of exchange to explain to a cross-section of stockbrokers and financial journalists the performance of the bank and its outlook for the ensuing year.
The company, which holds 31 per cent of the total market share in the purchases of cocoa beans, posted a profit before tax of GH¢713,605 for the 2006/2007 financial year, a recovery from a slight loss the previous year.
Presently, the price of its shares stands at GH¢0.2400 at the close of trading last Thursday.
In the last quarter of last year, the company’s unaudited financial results indicated a rise in net profit from to GH¢1,390,096 in 2006 to GH¢1,644,811.
“The company has a potential and needs to be more liquid than it is now, so that should the government reduce its holdings on the company, it will be in a better stead to perform on the exchange,” Mr Yamoah added.
Presenting the facts behind the figures, the Managing Director of the PBC, Mr Anthony Osei Boakye, said there was no turning back for the company at the moment.
He described past losses in the company as unfortunate and gave the assurance that the company had put in place pragmatic measures to improve its market share performance and profitability.
Mr Boakye said the company had acquired a fleet of vehicles, including trucks, in excess of 130 for haulage and was ready to entrench its position as the market leader.
The national cocoa production for 2006/2007 was 614,532 tonnes, out of which PBC purchased 186,051 tonnes, representing 31 per cent of the market share.
Deputy Managing Director in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr J. Osei Manu, described the year as another eventful but successful year for the company saying “although the company registered a significant reduction in both volume and value of cocoa purchased, this year’s performance has laid down a solid foundation for the achievement of targets in our new medium-term corporate plan”.
The company’s turnover has decreased from GH¢248.66 million to GH¢195.11 million, mainly due to a decrease in volume of the cocoa purchased.
With the general decline in national cocoa production from 740,000 tonnes in 2005/06 to 614,532 tonnes due to unfavourable weather conditions, the company’s tonnage purchased reduced by 23 per cent from 242,473 tonnes in 2005/2006 to 186,051 tonnes this year, he said.
He said the company would diversify its revenue base through increased freight earnings, and that the company had secured an GH¢8.5 million medium-term loan from two financial institutions to acquire 100 cargo trucks and 34 articulated trucks.
Story: Charles Benoni Okine
THE Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), K.S. Yamoah, has called on the government to reduce its shareholding in the Produce Buying Company (PBC), the only state-owned cocoa purchasing company to improve the performance of its shares on the exchange.
He said the positive performance of the company last year had raised public interest in the company and noted that the time was ripe for the government to release part of its shares to the public.
Mr Yamoah made the call last Friday when the management of the PBC took its turn at the “Facts behind the Figures” on the floor of exchange to explain to a cross-section of stockbrokers and financial journalists the performance of the bank and its outlook for the ensuing year.
The company, which holds 31 per cent of the total market share in the purchases of cocoa beans, posted a profit before tax of GH¢713,605 for the 2006/2007 financial year, a recovery from a slight loss the previous year.
Presently, the price of its shares stands at GH¢0.2400 at the close of trading last Thursday.
In the last quarter of last year, the company’s unaudited financial results indicated a rise in net profit from to GH¢1,390,096 in 2006 to GH¢1,644,811.
“The company has a potential and needs to be more liquid than it is now, so that should the government reduce its holdings on the company, it will be in a better stead to perform on the exchange,” Mr Yamoah added.
Presenting the facts behind the figures, the Managing Director of the PBC, Mr Anthony Osei Boakye, said there was no turning back for the company at the moment.
He described past losses in the company as unfortunate and gave the assurance that the company had put in place pragmatic measures to improve its market share performance and profitability.
Mr Boakye said the company had acquired a fleet of vehicles, including trucks, in excess of 130 for haulage and was ready to entrench its position as the market leader.
The national cocoa production for 2006/2007 was 614,532 tonnes, out of which PBC purchased 186,051 tonnes, representing 31 per cent of the market share.
Deputy Managing Director in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr J. Osei Manu, described the year as another eventful but successful year for the company saying “although the company registered a significant reduction in both volume and value of cocoa purchased, this year’s performance has laid down a solid foundation for the achievement of targets in our new medium-term corporate plan”.
The company’s turnover has decreased from GH¢248.66 million to GH¢195.11 million, mainly due to a decrease in volume of the cocoa purchased.
With the general decline in national cocoa production from 740,000 tonnes in 2005/06 to 614,532 tonnes due to unfavourable weather conditions, the company’s tonnage purchased reduced by 23 per cent from 242,473 tonnes in 2005/2006 to 186,051 tonnes this year, he said.
He said the company would diversify its revenue base through increased freight earnings, and that the company had secured an GH¢8.5 million medium-term loan from two financial institutions to acquire 100 cargo trucks and 34 articulated trucks.
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