Western Chiefs’ Unintended Oil Provocation a Lost Course

After many years of exploration and investment, research and perseverance on the part of the Ghana National Petroleum Company Ghana was finally declared a fledging new oil rich country.

The good news riveted throughout the country when a bottle of oil was sent to the seat of government in the Osu Castle from the oil rigs of Kosmos Energy to inform president Kufuor in 2007.

The stakes of oil find in any country are always so high that historical evidence have shown that most developing countries have seen oil, sometimes called the black gold as the "oil curse" and even the developed countries are sometimes trapped by the "Dutch disease." Either way, Ghana's oil find we were told will bring in experts to formulate best practices in order not to fall into the curse or suffer from the disease.

It has been eight years since this declaration was made to the whole world, so it surprises everyone that Chiefs from the Western Region will come up in arms to announce that they will oppose the Volta Region if they demand a percentage of oil revenue from government if their turn comes when there is an oil find.

The unintended consequences of this pronouncement are enormous and that is why many believe it was not thought up correctly and maybe just maybe it was and error of good judgment.

It was better the Western Chiefs channel any grievances that they have first through the Ghana House of Chiefs and amicably offer an apology to the Volta Region House of Chiefs in view of the fact that Ghana has vowed not to be riddled with an "oil curse."

Could it be the case that Ghana is united and the Western Chiefs are divided? In the current "politico-sphere" in Ghana where the opposition party will want to win elections at all cost one cannot rule out deep seated realigning of the stakes before the 2015 election.

Evidence based research shows that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) can win any election in Ghana just by winning three of the ten regions in Ghana. It does not matter at all to be a national party in Ghana considering the posturing that we say from the opposition NPP till date such that the NDC government will have to investigate the unity of the Chiefs in the Western Region and take appropriate action to quell the deceit.

For the fact that if there is any petroleum or oil law it is national and could not and should not be detrimental to a particular region like the Western region.

It would have been wished that Dr Nkrumah built more second cycle institutions, as well as colleges in the Western Region, albeit we have the Tarkwa School of Mines. But that should not be the trend of development in a nation as development should be needs based and not lopsided for the benefit of all citizens.

When Dr Nkrumah realized there was a deficit in opportunities for education in the North he instituted free education and that has remained till today. And gradually, it has taken a generation to see some results. So if you ask me, I would say, it was a fantastic decision.

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The fact still remains that the poorest regions of the country are the 3 Northern regions, Volta, Central Region and maybe the Western Region.

Although, the Central Region has the best and most educational institutions but unfortunately the most taxed for the educational infrastructure and tasked with the training of thousands of youth who flock into the region yearly to gain vital education.

Whereas, the region itself may not have any direct gains since the trained personnel do not live there. Also it is not as if youth of the region will automatically gain admission to those institutions without competition.

By the way how on earth, or for that matter what locus does Volta Region have as an entity to for instance, deny another region its rights or wrongs of an oil levy of 10 percent of revenues going to the Western Region? One cannot imagine how that could happen. How is royalties to Ashanti handled in the case of Gold?

The Volta Region cannot be a sole decision maker and has never been at any time in history but have always cooperated as a united country Ghana. In a democracy like ours it is even not true that just the Volta Region votes against such a levy will over ride those of the other nine regions. So clearly, it sounds like politics is at play here.

In recent memory a reputable figure head from the Western region left his Convention People’s Party (CPP) and joined the NPP. Could it be that his impact as far as contribution to the NPP in terms of the regions support for his new party has not been felt and this is the way to garner Western region's alliance for votes?

Let us all remember that it is through cooperation that Volta is part of Ghana and even though the United Nations mandate has long elapsed, Volta question remain but the chiefs and people in the name of unity have not agitated any longer. So it was better to "let the lion rest," as someone will say.

It will only be fool's hardiness for any party or region to pick fight with the Volta Region as Ghanaians must well be informed, because the Volta wanted a united Ghana and so be it and the history is obvious. The contributions of the Volta region cannot be overemphasized, the least said the better.

Hopefully, this is not the playback of what we saw in the year 2000, corpses incident. And if you ask former president Rawlings of the National Democratic Congress, what was his major regret as president, I am sure he will tell you there are quite a few.

The bitterest of them was after he left government and this was the murder of the paramount chief Yaa Naa, king (Overlord) of Dagbon in 2002.

But again the NDC as a party deep down in their hearts including Chairman Rawlings himself know that the turning point came when Accra and parts of the country was littered day in day out with corpses with no one held responsible for by the ruling NDC.

It was this dire situation that created insecurity for the people and a dilemma for the government whether to investigate aggressively, either way would have sent the wrong signal that the government was bad. Mr Rawlings in hindsight would tell you he should have pursued the perpetrators more aggressively.

Political historians have noted that, these events became a blessing in disguise for the opposition. Since, the Greater Accra region that bore the brunt of the crisis had voted massively against the ruling NDC from coast to coast as far as to the port of Tema.

But it also later also turned out that after all, the corpses were brought from a neighboring country to create panic prior to the elections. All should remember elections are a little over one year to go so politicians beware of playing regions against each other.

Rightly, as the Western Chiefs noted that the Volta Basin is rich in oil deposits very much identical to the Niger Delta in Nigeria or even Iraq. The major difference between the two regions of Ghana in terms of oil find is that the Volta Region has both offshore and onshore reserves especially those found in Anloga, Keta District about half a century ago.

The Volta exploratory work and maps have been available over a hundred years as these were produced under German protectorate. Many families have lost their lands taken over by the Ghana government for the purpose of onshore drilling and has never been compensated for, not to mention what is to be done with offshore exploration in the future. To put in better perspective onshore oil drilling is most preferable because it is cheaper than offshore oil drilling.

In the same way Western Region is suffering from lose of farmlands, fishing grounds and pollution from rampant death of large mammals like whales and dolphins caused by the oil rigs and cleanups that locals have to do without resources and the threat of diseases they might suffer, makes the 10 percent levy on oil revenue laudable.

Let us assume the Volta never get to explore the oil since it is no more going to be profitable at $49 a barrel as we have seen already this year. And the Volta Region on its part decides to rather explore "rare earth minerals" for example, which in abundance in the ocean floor sometimes even on land.

The mineral has higher demand and greater profitability around the world these days since it is used as a vital part of all electronics products. Will the Western Chiefs not be fighting a lost fight?

It is therefore, the duty of the Chiefs to make a strong case as the House of Chiefs and at the Council of State instead of antagonizing the Volta Region that has almost the same or worst stakes.

The provocation is misplaced priority, misdirected, a mistaken identity and a lost call. It would have been better it they united with the Volta Region to get this done.