President Rawlings Fears Death

-Rejects naming of

3rd FPSO after him

For fear of probably joining his ancestors sooner than expected, onetime military strongman and former President of Ghana, Jerry John Rawlings has rejected an offer by government to name the country’s third floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel after him, insisting “it is meant for the dead”.

The National Democratic Congress founder, The aL-Hajj has gathered from a source close to him, objected to the naming of the 3rd vessel after him on grounds that the first two vessels were named after two former presidents who incidentally are late.

“I am aware that government has been in touched with the old man (Mr Rawlings) to name the third FPSO after him but he has rejected the proposal. The old man thinks since the first two FPSOs were named after the late Prof John Mills and Dr Kwame Nkrumah, it would not be proper to accept such an offer since he is still alive,” the source told this paper.

Government sources have also confirmed to The aL-hAJJ that they are, indeed, considering naming the country’s 3rd FPSO after the country’s longest serving Head of State. “We considered several names and we have settled on former President Rawlings…we finally settled on him because we believe apart from being the longest ever serving head of state of Ghana, Mr. Rawlings has contributed immensely to oil find in Ghana and he must be recognized for that.”

The source was however tight-lipped on whether the former air force pilot has accepted government’s offer except to say “we are still in talks with him and at the appropriate time we will let Ghanaians know what is happening and who the vessel will be named after.”

The source, also, debunked assertions that the naming of the vessels are reserved for “dead” persons, “we have not stated anywhere that the vessels should be named after only former presidents who have passed on. I agree that the first two have been named after two presidents who are late but that alone is not enough to conclude that it is meant for dead people. We need to celebrate our heroes and heroines even whilst they are alive,” the source stated.

As part of moves to make Ghana an oil hub in the West Africa sub-region, works on the construction of a third FPSO are far advanced and is expected to be delivered by the end of this year.

This development comes after the country completed the OCTIP Sankofa gas project negotiations at a cost of about 7 billion Dollars. The World Bank and IFC have both endorsed the project. The yet-to-be delivered FPSO is expected to produce 45,000 barrels of crude oil daily by 2017 and 170 million cubic feet of gas daily by 2018.

ENI and Vitol are the operators of the Sankofa fields while the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation is the partner on behalf of Ghana in this oil operation.

Ghana already has two FPSOs. The first FPSO, which is operating from the Jubilee Oil Field, was named after Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah. And the second vessel, operating from the Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) oil field, was named after the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

Following the near completion of the third vessel, government is said to have scrutinized several names and have landed on Mr Rawlings as the ideal person for the new vessel to be named after, but sources close to him say the former President is not enthused and has turned down the offer.