Penplusbytes, with support from Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG) and International IDEA will officially launch the “Ghana Elections 2016 – Amplifying Oil, Gas and Elections issues” project at the Akroma Plaza Hotel in Takoradi on 8th September, 2016.

The project, which aims at heightening awareness of and strengthening responsiveness to oil and gas governance issues in Ghana has been initiated in response to a need to ensure greater inclusion of Oil and Gas issues in the electoral discourse before, during and after Ghana’s general elections on December 7.

The launch is expected to draw the participation of a cross-section of key stakeholder bodies which include civil society groups, local government representatives, journalists, economists, oil and gas experts, politicians and citizens who are interested in contributing to the prudent management of Ghana’s nascent oil and gas resources.

“Ghana Elections 2016: Amplifying Oil & Gas and Election Issues” project is premised on the fact that, since Ghana started producing oil in commercial quantities, political discourse in the sector has been characterized by questions on how much money has accrued from the oil production, what has been done with revenues from the sector, whether investments made with the oil revenues yield any value for the electorates and how to avoid the so called ‘Oil Curse’ among other issues.

The Executive Director of Penplusbytes, Kwami Ahiabenu, II, said the during project implementation, Penplusbytes is expected to undertake a number of activities including online/social media platform set up and running, a voters’ compass, media engagement, bursaries, editors liaison and political parties engagement.

By: Theophilius Anim