If you lie to a child, you have abused the minds of many generations to come. Tell the child the TRUTH because it is the only way to set them free.
It is therefore WRONG to trace the OIL FIND in Ghana to the efforts of the Busia administration of 1969 to 1972 and the NPP Regime under Ex-Prez. J. A. Kufuor in January 2001 – 2008.
Ghana’s efforts to come across oil dated back to 1896 and NOT under the Busia and Kufuor regimes as the NPP WANT innocent Ghana youth to believe. Former president Kufuor once remarked that the search for oil started under the Busia regime but was stalled with the overthrow of the government by Col. Acheawpoug in the 1972 coup de’tat. He added that the resources simply vanished there after but resurfaced under the NPP administration. With those remarks at an NPP National Delegates Conference and also at the party’s rally in Sekondi and Kasoa in August 2008. Some Ghanaians believe that it is true, but I beg to differ and the NPP must prove me wrong, because it was rather the PNDC and NDC regimes whose efforts had yield the current result.
It was the PNDC that decided to revolutionise the oil and petroleum sector by passing the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC Law 1983 – PNDC Law 64) under which suitable staff of the Petroleum Department were transferred to form the core of the GNPC.
To accelerate exploration efforts, the GNPC also funded the acquisition, processing and interpretation of the first Three – D seismic data over the South Tano Fields and other areas between 1989 and 1991 and subsequently drilled several wells that established three wells – where was Ex-Prez. Kufuor and his NPP at that time? Cadres will never sit down and allow politicians to twist facts and deceive, mislead or mis-inform Ghanaians. It is on record that the GNPC produced over 62,000 barrels of oil in the South Tano Fields under the PNDC in 1992, which was refined at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR). The GNPC, through appraisal work conducted, estimated that reserves in the South Tano Fields alone continued over 14million barrels of oil and 193 billion cubic feet of gas. At that time, political parties were not yet formed, where was the NPP then, I beg to ask Nana Akuffo Addo, that “All Die Be Die” chief?
Since these fields were owned by Ghana, it was unreasonable for the then NPP administration to have treated them as pure exploration assets when they were in government from 2001 – 2008. This was because they should have been excluded from the exploration agreement with Tullow Energy which was a bad agreement. That agreement culminated the unnecessary delay in the availability and use of indigenous gas power generation, which was needed by the Osagyefo Power Badge that was constructed for that purpose. During the NPP regime, the Volta River Authority (VRA) was indebted to the tune of $800million and the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) also owed $500million as at August 2008. The Truth will forever stand tall, no matter what. I am challenging the NPP to come out and prove me wrong for the whole nation and the world to see who is speaking the TRUTH, more especially our Unsuspecting Youth of Ghana. If you hate the erstwhile PNDC and the current NDC government, we shall NOT allow any person or group of persons to sweep the numerous positive achievements of these governments under the carpet like Ex-Prez. Kufuor and his NPP had done and continue to do. It will never happen.
Even if you hate Jerry Rawlings and his PNDC/NDC governments, the credit must go to him and his patriotic organs of the 31st December Revolution, in that case, the C.D.R Cadres including this writer, so the NPP comes nowhere near Rawlings when it comes to OIL FIND in Ghana.
Any challenger from the NPP about the OIL FIND in Ghana? Come out to prove me wrong for Ghanaians and the whole world to see and know who speaks the TRUTH because the official records are there, so bring it on. Therefore, the NPP can never take ANY CREDIT for the OIL FIND in Ghana. It is a fact. Come again! NPP.
I am done. “Jaanbie Iwaii”. Aluta Continua!
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Clement Sangaparee
Municipal Organizer
United Cadres Front
Obuasi
E-mail: ClementSan@yahoo.com
