Bernard Lamptey
His formula is as certain as E=MC2. Only this formula begets disaster. Oil +
Cronyism = Corruption. Mentional “oil and corruption” and what countries come to
mind? Soon, we fear, Ghana will be added to that ignoble list, and only one
person would be responsible for that enlistment – Tsatsu Tsikata. Until you see
his antics, you are doomed to believe he has Ghana’s interest at heart while he
laughs all the way to the bank as you work.
You have heard about Strategic Oil and Gas (Stratoil) and the $2 million in
shady payments he received from MODEC, the FPSO contractor claiming it was for
legitimate business. Well the web of cronyism is now known to extend to other
sectors of the petroleum industry and the Jubilee project. All this while he
manages to fool others to hit the streets to demonstrate at the Castle naively
believing they are championing a cause beneficial to Ghana.
We know Tsatsu owns 50% of the British Virgin islands-based Stratoil. What we do
not know is who owns the other 50%, and every chance of finding out has been
nibbed in the bud because records of that ignoble company has been wiped clean
to avoid detection. Talk about “legitimate business.” But we know that Stratoil
has an office located at 9 Lexington Apartments, 40 City Road, London and a
director called John Kenny.
Well it just so happens that Mr. John Kenny is also the director for a company
called Petro-Africa Limited, which is registered in London and shares the same
address with Stratoil. Another Petro-Africa director is a man by the name of
Yousuf Ibrahim of Dara Salamm Company. You may recall that Dara Salaam was
proposed by Modec as its local partner in the Jubilee Field FPSO contract, and
had things gone well, would have owned 5% of the $900 million vessel, the oil
super tanker contracted for the next 25 years to store and process all the oil
from the Jubilee Field before it is sold on the international markets. Get ready
to connect some dots.
Now it turns out that this same Petro-Africa, the company directed by two
Tsikata cronies, and which shares an office with Tsikata’s Stratoil in London,
is also a shareholder in a company registered on April 19, 2010 in the state of
Delaware in the United States. That company, Ghana Gas Gathering International
(GGGI) located at 1209 Orange Street, Wilmington, Delaware 19801, is owned by
Trinidad National Gas Company, GNPC, and Petro-Africa. Have you connected the
dots yet? If this GGGI is supposed to be a bilateral endeavor between Ghana and
Trinidad and Tobago, why are the two countries partnering with a private company
owned and directed by Tsatsu’s closest cronies at a time when he is advising the
president on energy matters. GGGI is believed to have been established to take
advantage of opportunities in the mid-stream gas business in Ghana.
As reported before, the pipeline to bring the Jubilee Field gas to Ghana was
inexplicably delayed. Was it so delayed to wait for Tsatsu to conceive his
sinister plan before tabling the project? Do Ghanaians know that the delay in
the gas pipeline project has cost Ghanaians $1 million a day? Do you smell
“causing financial loss to the state?” Does Tsikata now have his hands in the
gas pipeline pie? Guess who else is on the mid-stream gas business? You guessed
it, Modec, the company that has paid Tsatsu $2 million with another $3 million
on the way. It gets more interesting. Remember the Keta oil block that was
hastily approved in Parliament when the opposition boycotted the arrest of Nana
Darkwa? That block went to a partnership including Mitsui of Japan, a sister
company of – ready? Modec. So to those of you following blindly behind Tsatsu
Tsikata, it is hoped that one of these days, you would wake up one morning to
discover that you have been screwed.
Here is another instance of Tsatsu’s cronyism. Of all the marketing companies in
Ghana, how is it that the one company to land the public relations contract for
GNPC is Strategic Communications (StratComm) a company owned by none other than
Tsatsu’s wife Esther Cobbah. Was that contract opened to a bidding process? For
a guy that was in jail two years ago, he now has his tentacles in nearly all
facets of the budding Ghana oil industry. This explains why Tsatsu declined
every official position offered to him so that he can operate behind the scenes.
So are we the only ones seeing this or Ghanaian simply don’t care?
Now because of one person’s greed, all of Ghana could potentially wait until
next year before first oil. This comes as a result of World Bank and IFC
launching an investigation into the mysterious award of the FPSO contract to
Modec, and the resulting $2 million in payments to Tsatsu Tsikata. Additionally,
Multinational Insurance Guarantee Agency (MIGA) has suspended its financing of
the insurance covering the $900 million vessel.
If one thing is crystal clear, it is that Tsatsu Tsikata does not work for
nothing. So as he continues to earn frequent flyer miles traveling all over the
world in search of funding to buy Kosmos’ stake in the Jubilee Field for the
Chinese, one can only imagine what side deals he has concocted with the Chinese
for him to be so adamant. We know GNPC is intending to buy the Kosmos stake for
the Chinese because not only does Ghana not have the technical know-how to
manage the stake, the nation does not have $4 billion to purchase it.
When Ghana has to rely on the same Kosmos to pay for a portion of her 3.5% share
of all developmental and production cost, how in the world would we be able to
afford almost 30% of those costs? Loan payments on $4 billion plus interest,
along with the higher portion of development and production costs would be way
too much for Ghana to bear especially when first oil may be significantly
delayed due to the World Bank/IFC investigations. This would all but bankrupt
the nation.
Now back to the ignoble list of countries mismanaging their oil, Ghana appears
headed onto that list not because Ghanaians are not capable nor Ghanaians are
susceptible to the so-called oil curse. Ghana is headed onto that ignoble list
because of one person only – Tsatsu Tsikata. Our only collective culpability is
in our apathy. We see someone steering our ship into an iceberg, and what do we
do? Nothing. Stay tuned.
Bermard Lamptey
bernlamptey@yahoo.com
