Ghana's bad deals syndrome - A chronic case of ‘this is not your father’s’

I first heard this phrase "wei yε wo Papa dea a?" when I was in elementary school. Apparently, that was the catchphrase in Ghana's civil service when any civil servant was seen to be too strict, does not allow theft of state property and misuse of state resources either through time theft(doing personal things on the state's dime), stealing or just looking on while expensive state-owned facilities deteriorated.

Such civil servants were vilified by their colleagues and fellow citizens for behaving as such state resources belonged to their fathers.

As I've grown older and started doing environmental advocacy and now indigenous rights advocacy, I've come to understand now why Ghana continues to find itself signing very dumb deals, especially in the oil and gas, gold mining and the extractives sector.

It is why we continue to be poor despite the abundance of natural resources. The below table showing some of the contracts we have signed for Ghana’s oil find is a case in point.

Is it because we lack the human capital, intellect, and assertiveness to insist on and get better deals for Ghana and local communities? Look at Obuasi in the Ashanti Region, Prestea, Tarkwa, Axim, Aiyinasi, and Half Assini in the Western region. These communities bring in billions of dollars in resource wealth to private corporations, and a few million to the state every year.

However, they also remain poor, with dilapidated infrastructure and a higher proportion of disillusioned populations.

As for the mining sector, the least said about it, the better. In 2020, gold from Ghana was said to bring in several billion US dollars. Of this, only $200m came to the state and an even smaller amount to the directly affected mining communities.

It is why I couldn't control my anger and disappointment when I came across a joint venture agreement TIM-061219-001-F/INV/JVA/GH dated December 6, 2019, on Ghana’s Petroleum (Oil Hub) purporting to be between three companies - Kallo Inc, USA registered and led by a Canadian resident, John Cecil, Techno Investment Module (TIM), registered in Belarus and headed by a Russian resident, Sergey Pokusaev, and Vintage Ventures Ltd, registered in Ghana and headed by a Ghanaian, Kaye Kwaku Yeboah, on Ghana's proposed Petroleum "Oil" Hub.

In the said agreement the JV partners sought to use $150m to purchase 20,000 acres of land owned by Private landowners in Jomoro, Western Nzema, following its acquisition by Government of Ghana (GoG) through compulsory acquisition, then use the title to said land, plus GoG guarantees, to source $60b in funding to finance the Proposed Petroleum hub, and then share any Profit or loss arising at 25%, 30% and 35% respectively (90% in all) and then invite GoG to pay $6bn and be allocated 10%.

In the said agreement, other than TIM (which by the way has no track record in securing such deals), who is responsible for sourcing the much-needed funding, the remaining two have no financial muscle to support their allocated 25% and 35%.

So, I asked myself, is the facilitation, project management and procurement roles Kallo Inc and Vintage Ventures Ltd expect to play worth the cumulative 60% stake in the Petroleum (Oil) Hub? Are there equally well-qualified public and civil servants who can perform such roles without taking a 60% stake in the Hub as their reward?

Mind you, the real heavy lifting - Environmental Assessment, Land survey and demarcation, etc. have been done using state resources, and the state continues to spend to maintain a well-resourced hub corporation. Despite all of that, some companies with virtually no track record will end up with a 60% stake.

The community of Jomoro (Nzema West Traditional Authority) whose land and resources they plan to use will end up with 0% allocation while Government of Ghana takes a paltry 10% with the promise of phantom jobs and the ever-elusive taxes. Even in terms of taxes, the ubiquitous "investor" is promised:

Non-monetary:

Demonstrable Government commitment

Provision of serviced lands (road network, railway, utilities)

Monetary

Tax exemptions on duties and levies on machinery and equipment

Three-year losses carried forward.

Investment Guarantees Constitutional guarantee.

Repatriation of profits and dividend

Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs)

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) membership

Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs)

Guarantee against expropriation

while the local community is literally being reprimanded in project documents for having "Unrealistic expectations."

It reads – “The proposal to establish the petroleum hub within JM and its environs has brought much hope to the locals for a better life. On account of this, the locals have high expectations of social infrastructure development, employment opportunities, and better livelihoods. Some of these expectations may be unrealistic.

The unrealistic expectations if not managed may degenerate into community agitations, conflicts, apathy, vandalism and sabotage.”

The writers recommend “Awareness creation programmes should be instituted to manage the expectations of the locals.”

One can’t help but conclude, once again, that when, twenty years down the line the communities within the proposed Petroleum Hub enclave become another Obuasi, Prestea or Axim, remember, it won't be because today's deal makers are dumb. It will be because of "eyi nyε hɔn Papa dzea."

Meanwhile, a group of Concerned Nzema Citizens have made the below recommendations to be considered by those implementing the Petroleum Hub Program in Jomoro.

"1. Consider forming a GoG Consortium of GNPC & Ghana Gas, supported by Ghanaian technocrats and using its proposed $6bn to finance the initial processes including all aspects of compensation (Phase 1) as planned by the JV partners and then invite other investors in a Build, Operate and Transfer contract so that ownership remains Ghanaian,

2. Use the 20,000 acres of Jomoro land currently earmarked for the Hub (to be released in batches of 5,000 acres based on specified milestones) as Nzemas Maanle's contribution in support of the Hub project in return for 20 to 35% equity interest in the project. The land can then be used, together with government guarantees, as collateral to source any additional funding needed for the project as was proposed by the said JV partners.

3. Any other arrangement that leaves this project at 10% GoG and 90% private as proposed in Ghana Government Petroleum Hub documents and the said recently sighted JV agreement, using Nzema (Ghanaian) owned land, acquired through compulsory land acquisition procedure and funding secured using said land as collateral and Ghana Government guarantee, would be against the interest of Nzema and of Ghana as a whole.”

We hope that they, this time around, will treat Nzema, Ghana and Ghanaians well.

ie “dε eyi yε hɔn Papa dzea.”

Thank you.