Nzema Gas debacle - Project goes to Shama

The Nzema Gas Project which is currently under serious agitation over the actual location of the plant at the Domunli-Bonyele enclave in the Jomoro District or Atuabo in the Ellembele District has taken a fresh dimension as there are plans to move the project to a neutral ground for security reasons.

The new location Today can report is expected to be move to the Shama District of the Western region sources revealed.

Meanwhile, chiefs and people of Shama are warming to embrace the project wholeheartedly, since plans have been made to allocate over fifty kilometers of land as compared to the 18.9kilometres of land which was earlier released for the project, due to the uneasy calm which has engulfed between by the chiefs of Jomoro and some public servants who also natives of the area. The decision to relocate the plant to a new location, sources say was due to the recent threats made by the Chiefs and youth of the Jomoro District to use all means available to them to orchestrate and destruct operations of the Gas project in the Nzema area, if the government refused to heed to their calls over the alleged hint of possibly relocating the project from its initial site Domunli –Bonyele enclave in the Jomoro area to Atuabo in the Ellembele District.

The said attempt, according to the Chiefs were masterminded by two of Nzema’s own known as Mr. Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, the Deputy Energy Minister in charge of Petroleum who also doubles as the Member of Parliament for Ellembele and Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, the CEO of Ghana National Gas Company Limited for scheming to swerve the project to their area for their alleged selfish interest best known to them.

According to the chiefs, they will never allow the project to see the light of the day in the Nzema area if it is taken away from them to wrong place despite the numerous reasons given by the Ghana Gas National Company Limited with much emphasis on the problem of land acquisition which is currently under litigation by indigenes of the area as well as the nature of the land. Experts say the project is currently under threat and recommends of a possible relocation to save the nation from wasting the $ 3 billion loan agreement project as result of the purported hostile attitude of the people in the area.

They argued that Atuabo area was more suitable than the former location, saying the place was prone to flood and would cost the nation more to fill. This paper can also gathered that Chiefs in the area are living in a state of confusion and remains divided over a recent press conference held by the Omanhene of the area, Awulae Annor Adjeyei III, who accused the Deputy Minister for attempting to buy about 100 arches of land from a particular chief in his area for his selfish motives.

The statement, according to one of his (Awulae Annor Adjeyei) sub chief, Nana Kabina Tindenle of Kabina Suazo was a litany of false and baseless and must not be taken seriously.

Nana Kabina Tindenle who in his earlier remarks expressed his dissatisfaction with the statement since it seeks to degrade him as a sub chief and would not allow such comments to be made against him.

“The said statement is really worrisome and injures my reputation as a chief and my outfit would to see to it that this nonsense is stopped”. He told this reporter in a telephone interview last Sunday.

In fact, I have been undermined by those who allegedly attributed to me as the main brain behind the attempted sale of the 100 arches of land to the minister and will decide what to do next with the said allegation meted on me, he added. He further reiterated that the statement was only meant to dent his credibility and foment trouble between people and called on all to threat the allegations as false and baseless. The Paramount Chief of the area, Awulae Annor Adjaye III, in sharp rebuttal accused his subject (Nana Kabina Suazo) as an opportunistic politician citing him as a true NDC man who wants to satisfy the selfish desires of his masters.

“That man used to be an NDC Constituency chairman before he was installed as a chief” he told this reporter in an interview last Sunday at his residence in Takoradi. When asked of the reason for the purported statement citing the Deputy Minister for Energy who is also a native from Nzema mentioned that, he was not the one who inserted that particular clause but was rather done by a committee but was only made to read it.

“You can check from the committee the source of that particular clause which I read out to the public indicating that the Mr Kofi Buah attempted buying 100 arches of land from a chief from my area for selfish motives”.

He further mentioned that, he does not regret reading the statement that was duly prepared by the committee that he supervised.