Dr Chambas calls on Ghana to distribute oil wealth judiciously

From Benjamin Mensah, GNA Special Correspondent in Tripoli, Libya

Tripoli (Libya), Nov. 29, GNA - The Executive Secretary of the African, Carribean and Pacific Group, has stressed the need for a balancing act to distribute Ghana oil benefits to meet the aspirations of the people in the Western Region.

Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, said the demands by people in the Region, where Ghana was going to produce oil in commercial quantities, placed a responsibility on Government to allot certain percentage of the oil revenue to the development needs of the indigenes. He suggested the need for Government to look at models other oil producing areas had adopted in addressing the request by host communities. Dr Chambas, made this known in an interview to journalists, prior to the opening of the third Africa- European Union Summit in Tripoli, Libya. He said the needs of the area where the oil was produced had to be adequately cared for.

Dr Chambas said it was necessary for Ghana to ensure that oil resources were used in a principled way to facilitate national development. Ghana's President John Evans Atta Mills on Sunday evening arrived in the Libyan capital to attend the two-day summit, which is bringing about 80 Heads of State and Government to deliberate on a wide range of issues of governance, climate change, migration, agriculture among other issues. The conference is on the theme: "Investment, Economic Growth and Job Creation."

Dr Chambas, who was former Executive Secretary of the ECOWAS Commission and Ghana's Former Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, advocated a resolution on how to manage national resources in an equitable and transparent manner. Touching on the theme of the summit, Dr Chambas said Africa and Europe recognised the need for a shift from development aid to co-operation and collaboration among the two continents, which provided investment opportunities for the more advanced economies. With a new approach on people centred development, Dr Chambas said the European private sector must collaborate with their African counterparts for investment opportunities with the ultimate goal of lifting people out of poverty.

This he said called for more capacity development and payment of decent wages. 29 Nov. 10