By Prof Lungu
"...Fact is, you must first get your fair share of Oil and Gas revenues before you can manage your Oil and Gas revenues for real growth, inclusivity, equity, and sustainability. Anything less is a fraud...So, when Ghana lost $6 billion focusing on "Revenue Management" as politicians and bureaucrats clung to the so-called Ghana Hybrid System like a fetish, that was not growth...That was a $6 billion 'Revenue Management Trojan Horse'..That was a $6 billion loss to Ghana." (Prof Lungu, 7 Jan 16).
We noted in Part 1.0 of this series that lately, effort at transparency and accountability for Ghana's oil and gas has focused on "Revenue Management in the interest of Ghana". We also noted that the British Government was surely protecting its own national interests and the interests of Tullow when they committed to spending almost $30 million of British tax-payer money to "assist Ghana" with "revenue management" of Ghana's oil and gas, though the so-called "Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Governance (GOGIG)".
As far as we can see, there is little growth and inclusive development for Ghana the way GOGIG is conceptualized. GOGIG and the signature "Ghana Oil and Gas Revenue Management" program as currently operationalized is a Trojan Horse.
REPEAT: This is not rocket science. You must first get your fair share of oil and gas revenues before you can manage your oil and gas revenues for real growth, inclusivity, equity, and sustainability.
Anything less is a fraud!
So, when Ghana lost $6 billion while focusing on "Revenue Management" as politicians and bureaucrats clung to the so-called Ghana Hybrid System like a fetish, that was not true growth for Ghana. It was growth in somebody else's pocket. That was a $6 billion racket against Ghana over the last five years.
Now, we covered the important matter of the IMF and The World Bank noting that they are actually a part of the Ghana under-development mechanism. Then there are those "home-bred" agencies and others controlled by outside forces through (1) funding strings, (2) lax/non-enforcement of laws, and (3) lack of transparency.
Point is, in Trojan Horse Fashion, GOGIG and the "home-bred" agencies never stopped to ask if Ghana was receiving a fair share of Ghana's oil revenues in the first place!
We know that the "home-bred" agencies are opposing, fronting, or otherwise resisting the fair-trade PSA for Ghana's Oil and Gas. In fact, there are 5 (five) such organizations we now regard as co-opted. They are not neutral to the PSA vs. Ghana Hybrid System policy question because the agencies and/or their leadership have received, or are still receiving funding from the GOGIG initiative, and potentially, from other UK/USA sources.
Therefore, those agencies cannot sit in judgment, or corral the PSA discourse and pretend that they are impartial experts on the FTOS-Gh/PSA policy debate. They simply accepted the GOGIG program manager agenda and went along for the ride on the "Revenue Management Trojan Horse".
However, the "Ghana Hybrid System" (GHS) is actually a riskier enterprise for Ghana that was not properly accounted for by GOGIG.
GHS promotes opaqueness and lack of transparency!
GOGIS promotes corruption and theft or oil revenues!
Then, you are still not getting your fair share of the oil revenues, compared to the "standard" model crude oil agreement, the PSA!
So, did Ghana truly receive a Fair-Share" of oil proceeds from the "Ghana Hybrid System" (GHS) compared to the "STANDARD? The answers is the $6 billion-plus loss to Ghana over 6 year discussed above.
So, maybe the following "First Order Fronting" organizations and their leadership operating in Ghana will tell Ghanaians how much money they have received from any British- or American-sponsored initiative that promoted the GOGIG Trojan Horse while flatly ignoring and trivializing the PSA policy question?
1ST ORDER AGENCIES FRONTING GHS AND/OR OPPOSING PSA:
1. Oxford Policy Management (Simon Hunt , Nick Travis)
2. OXFAM America (Richard Hatokuevor, Nadine Kone)
3. Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) (Mr. Emmanuel Kuyole).
4. Africa Center for Energy Policy (Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam)
5. Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC) Professor Paul K. Buah-Bassuah). (See note).
4 (FOUR) DIRECT QUESTION FOR THE "FIRST ORDERS"
(1) Do you truly believe it is Fair-Trade, or that Ghana is meeting its Oil Income goals, the focus of the GOGIG "Revenue Management" initiative, when Ghana received just 17% of the oil revenues?
(2) How much money have you and/or your agency received from any British- or American-sponsored initiative that defended or promoted the Ghana Hybrid System or its NPP-infested predecessor?
(3) How much money have you and/or your agency received from any British- or American-sponsored initiative that defended or promoted the GOGIG "Revenue Management Trojan Horse"?
(4) When and how strongly did you and/or your organization argue on behalf of Ghana's growth and development that the foundation Ghana Hybrid System contracts are predatory, therefore fraudulent?
But wait dear reader, there is more!
2ND ORDER AGENCIES RESISTING PSA AND/OR FRONTING FOR FRAUDULENT GHANA HYBRID SYSYTEM (GHS):
Naturally, there are other organizations operating directly in Ghana, or through fronts in Ghana, but located in the United Kingdom, the United States, or elsewhere. Those agencies, through their own direct actions, plans, negligence and/or desire for funding regardless of source, have become part of the troops pushing and pulling the GOGIG "Revenue Management Trojan Horse".
The 2nd Order Agencies and their leadership are:
To be continued!
Notes/Sources
1. Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG), (http://www.opml.co.uk/projects/ghana-oil-and-gas-inclusive-growth-gogig).
2. Mr. Simon Smith, UK Ambassador to Ukraine, on PSA (2013) . So
Ukraine can have PSA, but not Nkrumah's Ghana? (http://ghanahero.com/FTOS_GH_Campaign.html).
3. We appreciate the funding challenges facing Professor Paul K. Buah-Bassuah and the PIAC. However, as a public entity, we believe that PIAC has failed to question the revenue generating mechanism at "the mouth of the oilfield" itself. To the point, none of the PIAC reports we have reviewed has covered the PSA/Ghana Hybrid System policy debate. However, the PSA policy debate has been on-going longer than 4 years even as the list of countries subscribing to the PSA keeps on growing. (That list now includes the South Sudan).
4. GHANAHERO.COM & PROF LUNGU POLICY ON SOURCES:
Our essays are data- and evidence-driven. But they are not written to the standards of a journal or peer review article. We only provide detailed sources and references to serious entities, from an intellectual frame of reference. Contact us, if you need a copy of a final paper on any subject we've tackled. Contact us, too, if you need a copy of a document we've referenced or discussed in any paper, including this one.
5. Sign the Fair-Trade Oil Share-Ghana (FTOS-GH) Petition: https://www.change.org/p/ghana-fair-trade-oil-share-psa-campaign-ftos-gh-psa).
GhanaHero.com. WWW.GhanaHero.com.
www.GHanaHero.Com/FTOS_Gh_Campaign, for more information.
(Read Mo! Listen Mo! See Mo! Reflect Mo!).
©Prof Lungu is Ghana-Centered/Ghana-Proud.
@professorlungu - Twitter
Prof Lungu is based in Washington DC, USA.
When UK-Interests Front and/or Oppose Fair-Trade Oil Share for Ghana (2.0).
Brought to you courtesy www.GhanaHero.com©10 December, 2015.
