By Kwesi Pratt Jnr.
The United States of America (USA) branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP)
does the electoral fortunes of the party no favours by its brazen defense of
imperialism especially from the stand point of absolute ignorance.
This branch of a party which believes in “Property Owning Democracy” feels
offended by my calling for the defence of the national interest in the
exploitation of the natural resources of Ghana. It ignorantly tries to
decouple the establishment of US military bases in Africa from US attempts
to control West African oil resources and it claims that Ghana did not spend
any resources to acquire valuable data which KOSMOS Energy distributed
illegally to oil companies.
The USA branch of the NPP demands that the Ghana Police Service should pick
me up and put me before court for daring to speak out against US
interference in the management of our oil resources. Interestingly this is
the same branch of the NPP which screamed loudly against the arrest and
prosecution of Nana Darkwa for claiming that former President Rawlings burnt
his own house. They claimed that the arrest of Nana Darkwa was a violation
of his right of free speech. However their commitment to the right of free
speech evaporates into thin air when the subject of criticism happens to be
the Almighty United States of America.
Many of the claims of the USA branch of the NPP are completely false. It
claimed that “The actual amount spent to collect 3D seismic data was just
over $30 million and all that cost was borne by KOSMOS, not Ghana. “This is
obviously meant to debunk my statement that Ghana has spent in excess of
$300 million to collect relevant data which KOSMOS illegally made available
to oil companies without the consent of the Ghana National Petroleum
Corporation (GNPC). Perhaps the USA branch of the NPP needs to be reminded
of the fact that data acquisition on Ghana's oil fields have a more than 100
year history. Indeed at the time that data acquisition began KOSMOS did not
even exist. The Geological Survey Department, the Ghana National Petroleum
Corporation, the erstwhile Soviet Union, Romania under communist rule and
several other entities have all contributed in varying degrees to the
acquisition of data on Ghana's oil resources. As a fact between 1984 and
1994, Ghana spent in excess of $300 million on data acquisition and related
projects. KOSMOS was itself attracted to Ghana after the data had
been made available to it.
The USA branch of the NPP does not deny that the United States of America
intended or wished to establish a military base in Ghana. It stated inter
alia that “….plans to establish a United States military base in the country
surfaced at least four years before the oil discovery and that it has more
to do with the war on terrorism than the control of oil resources in Ghana”.
Clearly what this branch of the NPP seeks to do is to admit the intent to
establish a US military base in Ghana but to delink it from the control of
the country's oil. Unfortunately, the United States itself coupled its
intention to establish a military base in Ghana with its control of the oil
resources of West Africa.
When President George W. Bush became the President of the United States of
America in 2001, he set up what has come to be known as the Chenney
Committee, chaired by his Vice President good old Dick Chenney with a
mandate to review US strategic energy requirements. The report of the Chenny
Committee predicted that US oil imports from West Africa will rise from 11
per cent in 2001 to 25 per cent in 2015 as a result of several factors. The
report recommended that as a measure to protect US interest in West African
oil, military bases needed to established in West Africa. Following this
recommendation the late president of Nigeria, Omaru Yardua stated that
Nigeria will not allow the establishment of foreign military bases on its
soil and will use all of her influence to prevent the establishment of US
military bases in West Africa.
The USA branch of the NPP states that ….”Ghana's proven oil reserves of 1.8
million barrels, whiles contextually significant and greatly appreciated,
constitute only 0.17 per cent of proven oil reserves on the entire African
continent” and therefore the US will not spend more than $10 billion to
establish a military base in Ghana. The ignorance of the USA branch of the
NPP is more than apparent. The US military base in Ghana was to serve the
strategic interest of the US in the entire West African sub-region and
beyond. Secondly, it is only the Jubilee Oil Field in Ghana which has been
assessed to have reserves of up to 1.8 billion. There are several other
fields with huge potentials and the US unlike the NPP branch knows this.
In attempting to refute my claim that the NPP has supported the KOSMOS –
EXXON – MOBIL deal, the branch wrote “certain individuals who may be
sympathetic to the NPP have expressed support for the deal, but the party
itself has not made any declaration in support of it”. What a pity and who
are these individuals who support the deal?
The loudest supporter of the KOSMOS – EXXON deal has been Mr. K.T. Hammond,
former NPP Deputy Minister of Energy who has acted as the party spokesperson
on Energy in many instances. Other persons with substantial influence in the
NPP have also spoken out in favour of this rather dubious deal which frowns
on the laws of Ghana. In any case the USA branch of the NPP leaves no doubt
about what the party's position is, when it asks “…why would Pratt be so
vehemently opposed to an American company buying out another American
company, but demonstrates tacit support for the Chinese Company's purchase?
Although it was supposedly a GNPC/CNOOC offer, with the Chinese putting up
the entire $5 billion, who do you think would control the stake when
purchased? Do not forget that when the opportunity presented itself for the
Chinese to invest money to explore for oil in Ghana, they laughed at what
they called the “oil graveyard”. Can the NPP's position on the KOSMOS-EXXON
deal be more clearer?
Statements by the USA branch of the NPP which tend to glorify gold
exploitation in Ghana are at best misinformed. As at today, Ghana gets only
five per cent of the total value of gold it exports. Is the USA branch of
the NPP happy with this situation too?
I am sick and tired of these imperialist attack dogs and their anti-national
machinations and if these types get anywhere near power we might as well
begin to sing the requiem mass for Nkrumah's Ghana.
Source: The insight Newspaper
