Oil discovery has become a “curse” - Sammy Awuku

A Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, Sammy Awuku says Ghana’s oil find has become a “curse” instead of a blessing to the nation, since after the discovery of oil in the country, government still have to purchase fuel from foreign countries.

He slammed government for exporting the country’s oil in its raw state while purchasing the finished product from foreign countries to augment fuel supply to the populace.

Reacting to recent reports of petroleum price increases this year, Sammy Awuku during a panel discussion on Peace FM’s “korkokoo” programme Tuesday, scolded government for the state of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), which he described as a “storage centre” since its activities have been halted for the past years.

“The oil we are exploiting here is sold abroad, yet we pay out huge sums to purchase it from abroad. Are we serious? Because you have the raw material, then you sell it to purchase the finished product from abroad when you have a facility here to do it…” he said.

According to him, TOR has been defunct since 2009, yet “gargantuan” sums of money are paid out to the Heads instead of subsidizing the country’s petroleum.

He also described as “hypocrisy” the silence by civil groups over the reports because the previous years had seen the emergence of several pressure groups protesting government’s attempt to increase fuel in the country.

He therefore called for government’s intervention to subsidize the fuel prices because to him; “the poor in Ghana are subsidizing for the affluent.”