Tsatsu Tsikata and his faceless adversaries

The faceless, shameless and ruthless enemies of Tsatsu Tsikata are at it again. This time his adversaries diabolic attempts are not only targeted at destroying Tsatsu alone, but also an orchestrated conspiracy aimed at torpedoing the commencement of the exploration of oil in the last quarter of this year as announced by the government.

The people behind “lets hang Tsatsu” and pro the sale of Kosmo shares to Exxonmobil, as quite rightly pointed by the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) at one of its recent press conferences are unpatriotic stooges of the neo-colonialist agenda. Having read and followed keenly the latest saga surrounding Tsatsu Tsikata, in relation to the stance taken by GNPC and the government of Ghana against the sale of Komos Energy stake in the Jubilee oil field to an American company Exxon Mobil; one is at pains to wonder why fellow Ghanaians would go to that extent of blindly or deliberately ignoring the national interest for their own parochial interest. Why have some fellow Ghanaians conveniently abandon our national struggle of resisting the oppressors’ rule which is embodied in the nation’s anthem.

The latest attempt to drag Tsatsu into an unsubstantiated alleged impropriety by Strategic Oil and Gas Resources (Stratoil), a company Tsatsu is said to have 50% shares, is a typical case of “giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it” Lets accept for a moment that Tsatsu owns 50% shares in Stratoil, the question is, and so what?; is he not allowed as a matter of right to invest in any legitimate company or business venture in Ghana that he sees and deems fit?

The two companies, Stratoil and MODEC, who at the centre of a due diligence review exercise jointly being undertaken by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank (WB) into the award of the FPSO contract to MODEC; and latter’s award of an Advisory Services contract to Stratoil; are two separate legal entities. Therefore, if there is an allegation of commercial impropriety by MODEC in its award of contract of a consultancy services to Stratoil, why drag Tsatsu into it, when clearly at the time of the award of contract he was in prison. In a case some of us believed and still hold the view that justice was not properly served. Read my article entitled “Tsatsu Tsikata Deserves Justice” (ghanaweb.com, archive news of 27 July 2008).

Again, quite rightly these two companies have issued separate press statements welcoming the due diligence exercise being undertaken by IFC and WD, so why won’t the faceless enemies of Tsatsu wait to have some evidence from the due diligence exercise to enable them prepare a big crucifix that would hang him once and for all. Have these fearless enemies of Tsatsu forgotten that in the eyes of the laws of Ghana, one is presumed innocent until proven guilty?

It is heartbreaking and simply incomprehensible that Tsatsu Tsikata, one of the finest sons of Ghana, an incontrovertible legal luminary of his generation, is shamelessly subjected to vile and poisonous “lets hang him” propaganda by some determined faceless and vicious Ghanaians. The unthinkable reason one can deduce to this latest attack on Tsatsu’s integrity is that these faceless adversaries believe they have an unfinished business to do, that is, to finish Tsatsu all cost.

Thank God and goodness that the will of the good people and the government of Ghana have prevailed. The sudden termination of Kosom’s sale of its Ghana stake of oil exploration to ExxonMobil, is a welcome relief and a victory for GNPC for standing up for the supreme interest of Ghana. Let Tsatsu Tsikata take consolation of this sweet victory against all odds with the might of Kosom, ExxonMobil and their Ghanaian collaborators, that he shall overcome his faceless adversaries one day.

David Atugiya

The author is a Human Rights and Social Justice Campaigner, Finance and Management Consultant; Specialist in NGO and Millennium Awards Fellow.