Where should Ghana’s oil Revenue Go?

By Fred SARPONG

In discussing the future prospects for Ghana’s oil, it is important that we recognize that Oil Money has to be the underlying reason why some foreign firms are in Ghana today. Many of these companies are here not because of the oil but the money that comes from the oil. If our leaders did not take care money will be pouring into our dear nation from all over the world to buy the Ghana’s little oil.
A lot has been said about Ghana's oil and the revenue that is supposed to come from the blessed but not the curse product by 2010 as the nation will be ready to witness major production.
Politicians and their allies in the country started jubilated and the announcement came that oil has been discovered and still some are singing praises simple because boom money will come from the sector.
But one may ask, are the people which lands the oil has been happy? Some of them are serious worry after getting to know the history oil in some rich nations in Africa. Example is Nigeria. They are also not happy because for some years now commodities like gold, diamond, cocoa and timber not brought any benefit to them especially those around the production areas rather they are still experiencing poverty with no access to water, healthcare, education, electricity among other things as well.
The question many Ghanaians are asking is that will the people benefit from the oil if they could not benefit from gold and other minerals? Is there any guarantee that the people will benefit from the oil proceeds when it begins to flow in 2010?
For several years foreign companies have taken billions of dollars from Ghana out of the sales of our rich gold, diamond, cocoa, timber, bauxite, you name them and living nothing to the benefit of the people of this country.
The only people who seem to have benefited from the revenue from these valuable assets are the corrupt politicians, their allies and the multinational companies and they are the very people who are likely to benefit from the oil come 2010.
Some are of the opinion that the only profit the people will have as is the case of gold and diamond, will be paying for the cost of environmental degradation, pollution of soil, rivers, wells, stream that will render many farmers and fishermen jobless.
Already, the previous government and the current government tried and trying to get Ghanaians involve in several seminars and forum to discuss where the revenue of the nation 2010 oil production should be channel into. But many believe that such effort has been taken over by the government and rather turn the beneficiaries to just lookers.
The question many Ghanaians are asking is that how different will the management of Ghana’s finding oil be from the countries like Nigeria, Libya, Guinea, Gabon and others who are not able to used the oil revenue to improved the lives of their citizenly.
In Nigeria for example 80 million people or even more still live on less than a dollar a day despite nation receiving over $400 billion from the sale of oil. All that Nigerian leaders can show for the billions they have received are the deep poverty, violence crimes, kidnappings, instability in oil producing areas, massive official corruption seen at all levels of government both federal and state as well as environmental degradation and pollution of rivers, wells, creeks and the soil which has rendered millions of farmers and fishermen jobless.
We should be very carefully that the flow of oil revenue will not lead to the collapse of other very important sectors of the economy like agriculture and tourism due to over dependence on oil revenue.
The Government of Ghana should be very carefully that the revenue from the 2010 oil production be use to build hospitals, long-lasting roads, irrigation projects, schools, sanitation, entertainment centers, playing grounds, housing facilities for poor people and take a keen interest investing in information and communication technology especially for the youth of this country.
The government should put in place proper laws that will make the exploitation of the oil sustainable, environmentally and eco-friendly. Therefore environmental impact assessment should be conducted for every project linked to the oil operation.
The laws must also seek to ensure that oil money will not end up in the pockets of the elite to the detriment of the people and the economy. Therefore, the utilization of the proceeds must be transparent and democratic. The best way to do this is to actively involve all stakeholders including the people, the government, opposition parties, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs), Church and all interest groups. Record must be kept by every institution that receives oil money and the release of those records to anyone with a genuine interest must be made mandatory.
All oil companies directly or indirectly involved in the drilling, marketing, distribution or export of oil must be made by law to publish what they pay. They must also indicate whether they have paid bribe to officials within or outside the country. Every ministry or department which receives oil money for project must publish in detail how it utilized it. The law must propose for stiffer penalties for officials and companies who will misconduct themselves.