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Ghana Institute of Governance and Security (GIGS), a leading Non-governmental Organisation (NGO), has appealed to the former Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Kofi Annan, as a matter of urgency to advise the government to withdraw the Petroleum Exploration and Production Bill 2014 from Parliament, to save the country from the unprecedented economic robbery in the name of investment.
According to the NGO, if the bill is passed into law, it would amount to an economic suicide committed by the leaders of the West African second largest economy.
The Senior Research Officer of Oil and Gas at the GIGS, Solomon Kwawukume, who is livid with the development stated that, “it is surprising Ghana is about to pass a law to legalise and perpetuate the robbery of her citizens in the name of investment, which Mr. Kofi Annan has been complaining about.”
“If the bill is passed into law by Parliament, we want to state that it would be against the wishes and aspirations of the People of Ghana”, he told journalists in Accra.
Mr. Kwawukume emphasized that should the bill be passed to govern the upstream petroleum industry in Ghana, then the oil and gas deposits in the Volta Region should remain underground until the country has a fair and equitable Production Sharing Agreement laws, like those of Angola, South Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, among others.
He indicated that: “we are not against investment. We only want a fair and equitable share of our oil and gas for the people of Ghana, owners of the resources as stated in the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and postulated by Mr Kofi Annan, an illustrious son of Ghana and an eminent citizen of the world in accordance with UN Charters and Resolutions on Natural Resources”.
Mr. Kwawukume and other civil society actors also demanded the review of all existing contracts and agreements so far entered into by an independent international experts to reflect the Production Sharing Agreement Fiscal Regime to uphold and protect the ownership rights of the people of Ghana as enshrined in Article 257, Section 6 of the Constitution and in consonant with the UN charters.
Source : http://thechronicle.com.gh/gigs-appeals-to-kofi-annan-to-intervene-in-passage-of-oil-bill/
