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AFRICAN AMBASSADORS PLEDGE SUPPORT FOR PAP

2022-10-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Article by Gilbert Boyefio

African Ambassadors based in South Africa have pledged their unflinching support to the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in the discharge of the Parliament's mandate as the representatives of the African people.

Speaking on the topic, “Enhancing collaboration between the PAP and Diplomatic Corps,” the leader of the Technical Team, His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Taher El Fadly, Ambassador of Egypt, encouraged the PAP to reflect on the composition of its membership, as the current status where every member country has equal representation is not good enough. He noted that consideration should be given to a country's size and population in determining the number of representations to be allocated to each member state.

H E El Fadly further assured the PAP of the ambassadors’ readiness to work with the Parliament to expedite the ratification of the Malabo Protocol.

Adding his voice to the solidarity message, the Ambassador of Morocco to South Africa, H E Youssef Amrani, indicated that he is proud to see once again that the Pan-African Parliament has returned to be one of the beating hearts of an exemplary Pan-African renewal that reflects the vision of the founding fathers for a Continent that moves forward in serenity, dialogue, and sharing.

“Now is the time when we need to work together to ensure that the PAP reclaims its place in the continental governance matrix by making an impactful contribution to the lives and livelihoods of the people of Africa. This is more critical than ever, especially in the current uncertain international context, that the African continent still faces numerous challenges including new conflicts and violence, poverty, rising unemployment, lack of control over our resources,” he stated.

He emphasized that the PAP undoubtedly has a central contribution to make in building a better Africa and achieving the continent’s aspiration for progress and collective prosperity. “We should support the policies and the programs of the PAP in this context, aiming at fulfilling its mandate. It should be an exercise that would revisit the architecture of a technocratic institutional scaffolding that has remained, in all likelihood, inadequate.”

H E Youssef Amrani stressed that the common goal should be to better equip the PAP to enable it to carry out its mission. The PAP has an advisory role and it will only be able to go beyond the legislative stage, as provided for by the Malabo protocol, by demonstrating the political voluntarism that befits and the operating methods that are essential. Transforming the PAP into a place of power would allow Africa to boost its continental policy.

Acknowledging the support from the African Ambassadors, the President of the PAP, HE Chief Fortune Charumbira, noted that collaboration with the ambassadors is key. He observed that this new trajectory is needed to start the discussion on the ratification of the Malabo Protocol.

He solicited the support of the ambassadors to push for more funding for the PAP to enable it to function well. He pointed out that the current funding of PAP, which is $11 million a year, as against $22 million a year in the past, is woefully inadequate.

According to him, the current funding gap is restricting the work of the committees of the Parliament and the ability of the Parliament to develop model laws to guide every sector of the Continent.

H E Chief Charumbira pledged PAP's readiness to work with the ambassadors to ensure that sanctions imposed on some African countries are lifted.

PAP Regional Caucuses Commence Review of the Draft Rules of Procedure

2022-10-25T22:59:00.000-07:00

The Bureau of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) and the Regional Caucuses have commenced meetings to consider and make proposals for amendments to the draft Rules of Procedure of the Pan-African Parliament presented by the Committee of Rules, Privileges, and Discipline.

The Rules of Procedure are central to the normal functioning of a Parliament as it aids the organization of its work. Like any living document, the Rules and Procedures are expected to be periodically reviewed to ensure their sustainability, currency, relevance, and effectiveness. This provides an opportunity for alignment with the PAP Protocol, and other policy decisions and facilitates the application and interpretation of the Rules.

Furthermore, the review of the Rules of Procedure provides an opportunity to codify consistent institutional practices recorded over the last ten years since the last amendments, with due consideration of best practices from comparable legislative bodies

Giving his opening remarks, the President of PAP, Hon. Senator Chief Fortune Charumbira, urged the Regional Caucuses to get actively involved in the review of the Rules and Procedure process to enhance the work of the Parliament. According to him, members should own the process and share their views to make the Rules and Procedure meet the expectations of rebranding the PAP.

He indicated that experts made up of lawyers, the Clerk, and former Clerks, are available to support and guide them during their deliberation process to ensure a good job is done.

The Caucuses are made up of the following blocs: Southern Africa, West Africa, Eastern Africa, Northern Africa, and Central Africa; have up to two days to complete their individual review process, after which they meet as joint caucuses to align their individual recommendations.

The draft Rules of Procedure is an outcome of a consultative workshop held on 5^th and 6^thSeptember 2022 and attended by members of the Committee of Rules, Privileges, and Discipline, the PAP Secretariat, external legal experts, the AUC Legal Counsel’s Office, and the African Union Commission on International Law (AUCIL).

The workshop considered the updated version of the Paper “The Review of Gaps and Areas of Improvement of the Rules of Procedure produced by the Pan-African Parliament”, and the zero draft of the Revised Rules of Procedure produced by the PAP Secretariat in line with the instruction from the March 2021 workshop of the Rules Committee.

Background

The Pan-African Parliament is an organ of the African Union established through the Constitutive Act of the African Union, which provides for the overarching mandate of the PAP, which is to ensure the full participation of the African people in the development and economic integration of the continent.

To operationalize this mandate, the Protocol to the Treaty establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan-African Parliament (PAP Protocol) and the PAP Rules of Procedure (PAP Rules) defined the functions, organs, and procedures for the operations of the PAP. The protocol is instructive that PAP must adopt its own rules of procedures to guide its work.

Initially adopted on 21 September 2004, the PAP Rules were amended on 10 October 2011, to ensure a more effective execution of the mandate of the PAP, and to adjust to the prevailing political and institutional exigencies.

MP URGES PLAYERS IN EXTRACTIVE SECTOR TO INITIATE SAFETY BILL

2016-08-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

The Member of Parliament for Takoradi, Hon. Kwabena Otchere-Darko, has urged players in the extractive industry in Ghana to rally together to sponsor a bill that would address the safety needs of the extractive industry.

He said the absence of an omnibus law on safety to regulate the sector is a big disincentive to players of the industry and their investments.

This will introduce significant challenges in a country without an existing safety culture, an underdeveloped HSE regulatory framework, limited HSE training opportunities and without an established system for certifying the competency of either HSE professionals or the general technical labour force. Local content and HSE standards are inexorably linked.

“Laws are very important and I believe that it is high time we enact a safety law especially for the extractive industry. I know that there is the Factory Act that has some level of safety in there. But it is better if we get a complete safety law or combination of laws that can be put together or a framework of laws that the industry can apply,” he said.

Currently there is no specific law on safety that safeguards the extractive industry. Most players in the industry want to see regulations being published to create a level of certainty across board and its absence has created a vacuum or grey area encouraging some players to do what they want.

In a brief interview with the Orient Energy Review (OER) at the second Ghana Extractive Industry Safety Conference (GEISCon) 2016, under the theme “Developing a Sustainable Culture to Safeguard Lives and Properties”, Hon Otchere-Darko pointed out that the fact that many of the big companies have acquired rich experiences from operating at other places and for the interest of their profit they take safety serious, the safety culture in the extractive industry would have been worse off, as is evident in the other sectors of the country.

He said stakeholders need to find a way to integrate these experiences of the international oil companies horizontally and vertically across all the industries in the country in the absence of a proper law.

Asked what the parliament doing about it, Hon. Otchere-Darko said ‘In Africa, and Ghana, we have laws that debar MPs from initiating a private member bill. These laws were enacted in the colonial era, but dictatorship and the African’s attitude to centralized power has kept them still in our books. If we are able to take these laws out of our books, our safety issues and other laws that needs to be enacted would have been done long time ago.

It is very important that we create that space in our Constitution so that all these grey areas MPs on their own can push those changes through’ he said.

Orient Energy Review sought his opinion on what can be done in the interim and this was his response “If they are not careful they might lose their investments and license. So in the interim, industry players should come together and start working on something that would represent their interest and also secure the industry.

Now that the Chamber of Commerce has taken this up, they can get other industry groups to come on board to put together a framework that would guide all the industry players".

Ghana Fire Service wants every household to have fire extinguisher

2016-06-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

The Ghana fire service in an attempt to curb the numerous fire outbreaks have declared its intention of amending the residence fire law, LI 1724, which have proved to be inadequate in solving modern day fire outbreak issues.

The existing law only requires fire personnel to enforce safety measures at areas where there are mass convergence such as churches, hotels, schools, night clubs and so forth, excluding domestic residences.

According to Mr. Timothy Afum, the Public Relations Officer of Operations, Ghana Fire Service, there have been a total of 2,429 fire cases recorded with 42% being domestic fires.

He pointed out that due to the rampant domestic fire outbreaks, it has become imperative for the law to be amended for the service to fully deliver its functions in the areas of domestic residence for lives to be saved. He said the Ghana Fire Service hitherto was just playing an advisory role as far as domestic residence adhering to safety measures is concerned.

Meanwhile the proposal is at the final stage to be presented to the Ministry of Interior who will in turn present it before parliament.

However, other laws such as the PNDCL Bush fire Act 229 of1990 which compels individuals who deliberately start bush fires to pay maximum of 100 cedis when brought to justice is also being proposed to parliament for amendment.

In an interview with Mr. Ransford Ago, a landlord, he said so long as they would implement it to protect properties he has no issue with it and for the fact that it is sometimes difficult for fire personnel to reach fire scenes on time, prevention to him is better than cure.

Mrs. Esther Atakora-Brix, also a landlady at Teshie lascala, said so long as the various safety measures such as fire extinguishers would be provided by government, she thinks its a good idea in that the family that got burnt in Kumasi last week has made her conscious of the effect of fire outbreaks.

Mr. Kwesi Zewu, said it will be a good idea so long as it is subsidized for low income earners to acquire so that there would be no excuse whatsoever on the part of house owners.

Mr. Afum said the service is positive that when the law is put in place the various fire outbreaks in homes would be a thing of the past since they have weighed all options.

Story by:Celestine Tsatsu

CHRI calls for independent civilian oversight body to police the police -in the face of recent police brutalities

2016-06-23T04:45:00.002-07:00

The Commonwealth Human Right Initiative (CHRI) is calling for the establishment of an independent civilian oversight body to police the Police Service as a way of minimizing the impunity and misconduct of officers of the service.

This call comes at a time when the men and women of the Ghana Police Service have been making news headlines in the country for the wrong reasons, such as abetting crime and brutalizing the citizens who they are supposed to be protecting.

Miss Mina Mensah, Regional Coordinator for the CHRI believes that the establishment of the independent civilian oversight body to police the police will ensure that there is transparency and accountability, which will lead to all reports on investigations conducted into police misconducts being made public.

Recently, Krofuom, a town in the Ashanti region, was turned into turmoil after a young man in his early 20s was allegedly brutalized to death by the police. The deceased, Osei Tawiah, was said to have been returning from a public toilet when the police patrol team pursuing two criminals on a motorbike mistook him for one of the criminals. They subjected him to serious beatings until he became unconscious and later died.

According to eyewitnesses, not even a plea of innocence from residents and the young man’s foster mother could restrain the police from using their taser and gun butts on him. Angered by the gruesome murder, residents of Krofuom have been pouring onto the streets to protest the action of the police.

This is not the first time an unfortunate incidence such as this has happened. There have been many other occasions where the conduct of the police has been questionable.

It is because of unfortunate incidents like this and many others that led the Ghana Police Service to established the Police Intelligence and Professional Standards Bureau (PIPS) to help check the image of the police, since there are few bad nuts in the service who could drug the image of the service into disrepute.

According to Chief Inspector David Fianko Okyere, Police Public Relations Department, since the establishment of PIPS, there has been a change in the behavior of the police. PIPS is responsible for checking the police. They ensure the police are not misbehaving in any way. In other words, they police the police.

He said they take complains as and when they are reported about the police and check if the police acted contrary to the laws, pointing out that, “In a case where an officer goes contrary to the law, he or she is handed over to the right authority. Depending on the gravity of the offence, the authority decide on the suitable punishment be it suspension, dismissal or even arrangnment before the court”.

Most of these acts by the police are termed as police brutality. But what is brutality? Who measures it?

Speaking with Inspector Augustine Kingsley Oppong, Police Public Relations Department, he stated that any form of brutality is bad, noting that, “Using police power unduly is wrong”.

He argued that the police is allowed some form of minimal force to bring order and sanity whenever necessary. The force is used to achieve law and order.

But Ms Mensah, had a completely different perspective of the issue.

To her, a person who does not resist arrest does not deserve to be beaten and must not be subjected to any form of mistreatment; citing the case of the Let My Vote Count Alliance as an example.

She observed that when the demonstrators started running away because of the police teargas fired at them, it was evidence that they had somehow conceded defeat and therefore they did not deserve to be chased and beaten in gutters. Also the victim of the Krofuom incident was denied an opportunity to explain himself.

She criticized PIPS for not making its reports on their investigations into police abuses public. She disapproved of their lack of transparency and failure to account to the public. She emphasized that all investigations done were being kept in the bosom of the police themselves and that it is up to the discretion of the Inspector General of Police to release or withhold information.

Ms Mensah was of the opinion that the lack of transparency in the operations of PIPS is a fertile ground for the police service to let off the hook police officers found guilty of misconduct.

Citing an example to buttress her point, she gave an account of an incident where a police officer crashed into her vehicle. She pointed out that wanting the proper action to be taken, she sent the matter to PIPS to investigate and till date they have not gotten back to her.

She also gave another example where five boys were assaulted by the police at Odokor, a suburb of Accra. The police sent the matter to court to try and show some level of lawfulness. But till today PIPS has not come out with any official report about the incident though the court has acquitted and discharged the boys.

Ms Mensah also accused the police for not carrying out their duties well. She said that when people are arrested they are not given the reason for their arrest; also they are not given bail or access to a court within 48 hours as enshrined by law. This she attributed to the ignorance of some of the police officers and civilians.

CHRI has been helping victims of police brutality and has a high success rate in the cases they take which are mostly solved at the early stages.

Story by: Adwoa Yankson

New Technical Universities to run into legal difficulty, if….

2016-06-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

The Polytechnics that have been converted into Technical Universities stand the chance of facing legal actions if the Technical Universities Bill before parliament is not passed into law before they start issuing degrees.

According to legal experts, public universities are statutory bodies and they award degrees based on their enabling statutes and therefore in the absence of the right legal backing, they cannot issue their own degrees.

In an interview with Parliamentary News, Mr. Osman Gyan, a Legal Practitioner, explained that if a public university whose enabling statute is yet to be passed by parliament purports to award a decree, it will mean that they do not have the power to do so for which reason the purported award becomes a nullity.

He stressed that any person relying on the purported award which is said to be a nullity may have a cause of action against the university.

On his part, Mr. Larry Fiifi Yankson, a Legal Practitioner, noted that for these Technical Universities to be able to award degrees, they must be affiliated to other full-fledged universities such as the University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, adding that, “If these technical universities are awarding degrees from the established universities, then they have no cause to worry as they do not break any laws or go contrary to the Constitution.”

He acknowledged that in the absence of the law backing their conversion, if these technical universities start to award their own degree certificates, they can be challenged and held accountable for that act.

Likening the predicament of the Technical Universities situation to that of the national sanitation day, Mr. Yankson observed that since there is no law or Act of Parliament backing the national sanitation day to ensure it is adhered to, no one can go to the house of a person and force him or her to come out and clean; anyone who does so can be sued.
Lawyer Yankson was however excited with the concept. He noted that considering the number of students who come out of polytechnics, it will be very effective if there is an upgrade so that these students will come out with similar qualifications as those in the traditional universities to give them equal opportunities on the job market.
“To enable this dream come true, it is important that the act be passed. Just like acts of Parliament make charters possible for the establishment of universities, so is this act necessary to enable these technical universities operate.”
According to Lawyer Yankson, the passage of the bill into law will ensure that the new technical universities are equipped with lecturers and infrastructure to be upgraded in order to be able to award degrees. He stressed on the fact that this was necessary due to the shortage and gap between people who come out with liberal arts and business related degrees as compared to those who come out with science and technology and technical training.
"We need more of these people in industries such as agriculture, construction, mechanical, electrical, architecture etc."

The Technical University Bill, 2016, was laid before Parliament on June 3 and was referred to the Committee on Education for consideration and report. It is a bill to provide for the conversion of polytechnics into technical universities and to provide for related matters.

So far, a number of polytechnics have already been converted including the Takoradi Polytechnic and the Sunyani Polytechnic; with the others expected to be converted soon.

Call for Okoe Vanderpuije’s resignation is misplaced -Hon Ibrahim Ahmed

2016-06-22T09:50:00.001-07:00

The Member of Parliament for Banda, Hon Ibrahim Ahmed, who is also the Second Deputy Majority Chief Whip of parliament, has stated that the calls for the resignation of the Accra Mayor, Mr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, due to the recent flooding of Accra just a year after the June 3 disaster is misplaced.

According to him, he does not agree with the manner in which people are handling this flood issue and blaming the Mayor for it. He pointed out that Accra has been planned many years ago and one cannot just change it within a short period, noting that, “There are certain physical structures you cannot change overnight.” The call for the resignation of the mayor resurfaced when few days after reassuring the country that measures have been put in place to ensure that the city does not flood again, the city got flooded. The mayor at the first anniversary to commemorate the June 3 disaster emphatically stated that “With the constant de-silting, clean ups and various renovations ongoing, I am certain such an incident would never repeat itself again.”

Leading the charge for the mayor’s resignation are the People’s National Convention (PNC), IMANI Ghana, and Professional Patriots Ghana (PPG).

According to the Director of Communication for PNC, Emmanuel Wilson, the Mayor has overseen too many misfortunes which had made his position untenable and therefore the only option left for him is to resign and save the city and by extension, the country.

Though the Christian Council did not call for the Mayor’s resignation, they demanded that politicians desist from promising Ghanaians of preventing another June 3 disaster as the June 9 downpour indicated clearly their inability to handle the situation as it got worse. The June 9 rains rendered many properties around the Kwame Nkrumah circle, Airport residential area, Alajo and Teshie-Nungua to be submerged in flood.

Last year, a gas explosion at the Goil Filling Station caused by torrential rains led to the loss of lives of 200 Ghanaians. The incidents also exposed the weakness of Accra's infrastructure which has failed to keep pace with population growth after years of rapid economic expansion. The disaster triggered outrage among section of the public and prompted widespread calls for Mr. Vanderpuije to resign over what some critics said was his incompetence. But the mayor has said that he does not owe victims of the devastating June 3 Accra floods any apology but rather his support to ensure that the disaster does not recur.

Hon Ahmed, pointed out that there is the need for the country to find the actual solution to the flooding issue than to blame the mayor because there was evidence that the Assembly has embarked on a 24 hours de-silting project on both the Korle lagoon and the Odow river, which has so far reached 45% of the total work that needs to be done and generating about 420,000 metric tonnes of filth. He indicated that one of the surest ways to help the city authorities to address this flooding issue is to take politics out of it.

He noted that city authorities have been heavily criticized for undertaking decongestion and demolition exercises to free water ways and also to properly plan the city. “You remember the famous incident at Adjei Kojo. The people did not have permit and have built there and when the city authorities tried to demolish their structures there was public outcry. People, including the opposition asked that the people should be left alone and rather be regularized into the system. City authorities are accused of not being sensitive to the plight of the people and not approaching these exercises with a human face. But these are the same situations that eventually lead to flooding of the city.

The first flood nearly took away Hon Freda Akosua Prempeh, Member of Parliament for Tano North, and now she is an advocate for decongestion and demolitions. Flooding does not know any political colour,” he said.

Hon Ahmed pointed out that the flooding issues of Accra are multi-sectoral and goes beyond the mayor alone. He said the Ministries of Transport, Environment, Local Government, Works and Housing, the Ghana Meteorological Service, all have roles to play in addressing the perennial flooding issues of Accra.

He believes Mr. Vanderpuye is the best Mayor that Ghana has had within the Fourth Republican dispensation. “If I am to judge the performance of Mayors, Chief Executives and Metropolitan Chief Executives in the country within this Fourth Republican dispensation, I would say that Okoe Vanderpuije is the best Mayor I have seen. He is a visionary leader who is up and doing. He knows what he is about and doing it,” he said. He appealed to parliament to pass a law to make loitering a punishable offence. He stressed that this is so important because attitudinal change is another major solution to Accra’s flooding problem.

Modern Slavery Still Exist Modern slavery

2016-06-06T14:00:00.002-07:00

Modern slavery, also known as contemporary slavery continues to exist in our present day. Modern slavery is any situation in which individuals are suppressed and forced to undertake activities due to some form of threat, violence, coercion or abuse.

“Ghana is a source, transit, and destination country for children and women trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking within the country is more prevalent than transnational trafficking and the majority of victims are children. Both boys and girls are trafficked within Ghana for forced labor in agriculture and the fishing industry, for street hawking, forced begging by religious instructors, as porters, and possibly for forced kente weaving. Over 30,000 children are believed to be working as porters, or Kayaye, in Accra alone. Annually, the International Organisation on Migration reports numerous deaths of boys trafficked for hazardous forced labor in the Lake Volta fishing industry. Girls are trafficked within the country for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. To a lesser extent, boys are also trafficked internally for sexual exploitation, primarily for sex tourism,” U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009.

According to the administrator for the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA), Madam Edna Kuma, modern slavery in Ghana is a very prominent form of abuse in the home. Children as young as 3 years are forced to go fishing with their fathers; this is very dangerous as some end up drowning. Women suffering domestic abuse are also being held against their will due to fear. Again children of all ages are trafficked from one part of the country to another and sometimes even outside the country in search of greener pastures. Most parents will give the excuse of financial resourcing and dept. In most situations, mothers are abandoned by the father of their children to take care of the children. This pushes them to send their children away in search of financial aid sometimes even through begging.

According to AWLA, in Ghana there is serious lack of awareness on the various avenues people can use to get help. Some women experiencing violence still do not have the strength to rise against their oppressors and get help from the various NGOs and civil society groups. The group noted that the Ghanaian cultural setting has also not been of help to women and children who mostly suffer modern slavery.

This is so because the prominence given to men makes some women scared to fight back against a male oppressor who abuses or defiles them. The lack of proper and adequate parental care causes some children to flee their home therefore having to fend for themselves. With the recent rampant acts of homosexuality and pedophilia, many male children have been victims to these disgraceful acts. Male children are also mostly forced to work among the fisher folk. Girls are raped and defiled on a daily basis as well. There have been several laws passed to help deal with some of these cases such as the anti-trafficking act among others. There are also several NGOs who work at the grassroots to help people in need. Also the ministry for gender, children and social protection has been working towards combating modern slavery.

Madam Kuma also stated that her organization had also been organizing training programs to help create awareness. She stated that they did radio and television programs from time to time to educate the general public on modern slavery. She finally stated that with more work, more people awareness and more access to justice, the people of Ghana will see an end to modern slavery.

Story by: Adwoa Yankson

Some June 3 dead bodies yet to be claimed -Mayor disclosed at one year anniversary

2016-06-06T13:55:00.003-07:00

The Mayor of Accra, Dr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, has disclosed that there are still bodies from the June 3 disaster that needed to be identified and claimed by their families.

Speaking at the commemoration of the first anniversary of the disaster, the mayor appealed to families to muster the courage to come forward to identify and claim the mortal remains of their loved ones.

Last year, an explosion at the Goil Filling Station at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra, caused by torrential rains led to the loss of lives of over 150 Ghanaians. The incidents also exposed the weakness of Accra's infrastructure which has failed to keep pace with population growth after years of rapid economic expansion.

The emotion-packed occasion was graced by His Excellency John Dramani Mahama, the Mayor of Accra, Member of Parliament for the area, Hon. Nii Armah Ashitey, officials of the various security agencies, loved ones of the deceased as well as well-wishers of the survivors. The entire place which was filled with chanting of the names of some of the deceased by friends and loved ones, created a sad atmosphere for all.

In a speech read on behalf of the President, the Mayor said the government in collaboration with the Accra Metropolitan Assembly have put measures in place to ensure that such a devastating incident never repeats itself. He added that, in view of the fact that such incident occurred as a result of choked gutters and drenches, the Assembly has embarked on a project which ensures the de-silting of both the Korle lagoon and the Odo river 24 hours each day, which has so far reached 45% of the total work that needs to be done and generating about 420,000 metric tonnes of filth.

The Mayor noted that as part of the measures put in place to forestall similar occurrences, there have been constant cleaning exercises undertaken all over the city as the total estimated refuse generation is about 3000 tonnes daily. “With the constant de-silting, clean ups and various renovations ongoing [on] i am certain such an incident would never repeat itself again,” he added. He said about sixty families have so far received entitlements from the government worth about GH10,000 cedis per family.

Also the medical expenses of about 15 people have been fully footed by the government. The solemn but colourful occasion saw a contingent from the Ghana Police Service processing from the church to the Goil filling station for the laying of wreath by the dignitaries and bereaved families.

However, a critical look at the disaster scene and it surrounding area shows that much has not changed as pedestrians and hawkers still continue to litter and throw rubbish into the Oda drain as well as the gutters close to the market. When a Parliamentary News reporter interviewed some of the hawkers concerning the reason behind such acts, the response were that, bins are not placed in sight.

By: Celestine Tsatsu

Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative excited with progress of RTI Bill at consideration stage -But very cautious with expectations

2016-05-31T02:03:00.000-07:00

The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has expressed satisfaction with the progress parliament is making on the Right To Information (RTI) Bill at the consideration stage.

The RTI Bill was among the Bills that were arranged in the Business of the House for last week when parliament resumed sittings for the Second Meeting; and has been advertise in all the Order Papers throughout the week, and debated on accordingly by members.

It was the only Bill that earned the Speaker’s mentioning during his welcome address to members for the Second Meeting of the Fourth Session of the Sixth Parliament of the Fourth Republic. The Speaker, Rt. Hon Edward Doe Adjaho, entreated members of the need to “give priority to the consideration of the Right to Information Bill.”

According to Mina Mensah, Regional Coordinator, Africa Office, CHRI, so far proceedings have gone on very well. “Generally it has gone well. I guess there is the need for MPs to really acquaint themselves with the proposals that the committee made. Most of the amendments have been justified in the Committee’s report. So if members read that report and then brainstorm on it, I think it will make the process very smooth. So far so good. What we hope for is that they will move at a faster pace. Because if the pace is faster I am sure by the end of June it may pass,” Ms Mensah said.

However, on whether she is confident that the Bill will be passed this year, the CHRI Boss pointed out that she is not in a position to say so, indicating that, “I am not a parliamentarian. I will not say that I am confident because I am not a parliamentarian. At the end of the day there are so many amendments that have to be done. I cannot stand here and say because of what I have seen in the last few days I am sticking out my neck and say definitely it is going to pass. History has taught me a lot of lessons and one of them is not to jump to conclusion when it comes to parliament”.

She noted that largely the amendments that have been suggested are things mostly from the Committee’s report. There are very few amendments and a lot of them it is just a question of semantics and placements that are different. The RTI Bill, 2013, has 56 amendments proposed. So far the amendments that have generated concerns during the consideration stage have been deferred to the Attorney General and the Committee to have a look at it again.

The consideration of the RTI Bill continues today.

The bill which was ushered into its consideration stage on Wednesday is expected to be discussed clause by clause with all concerns debated and voted upon. The rationale for the Bill is to give right and access to official information held by public institutions, private entities which perform public functions with public funds.

The right to information is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the country’s 1992 Constitution and recognized as a right under International Conventions on Human rights. The purpose of the Right to Information Bill is to give substance to Article 21 (1) (f) of the Constitution which states that “All persons shall have the right to information subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary in a democratic society”.

The Members of Parliament on first day of the consideration stage focused on Clauses 1 and 2 of the bill which provides for access to official information held by a government agency except for information specified as exempt and maximum disclosure in relation to governance respectively. The information classified as exempt under clause 1 of the bill include information concerning an individual’s physical or mental health, marriage or employment record, business or trade secrets of commercial value to the individual or professional, commercial or financial affairs, among others.

Maximum disclosure in relation to governance provided for in Clause 2 of the bill requires the government to make non-exempt information on governance available to the public without the need of an application and this is meant to ensure transparency in government and to contribute meaningfully to national development. The Clause states that “in addition to the requirements of Article 67 of the Constitution, and subject to this Act, the government shall make available to the people general information on their governance without application from a specific person”.

However after extensive debate on the Bill the legislators deleted the portion “in addition to the requirements of Article 67 of the Constitution and subject to this Act” from the Clause. The Bill was first drafted in 1999 and reviewed in 2003, 2005 and 2007 but was not presented to Parliament. The first attempt at enacting the law on the right to information was made when the Bill was presented to Parliament on February 5, 2010.

GHANA GETS EXCITING AS TEN PROJECT COMES ON STREAM

2016-05-31T01:20:00.000-07:00

The exciting word on the mouth of many players in the oil and gas sector in Ghana today is the TEN project, which is expected to come on stream in August 2016.

The project is currently on course with the FPSO Prof John Evans Attah Mills, which is named after the late President of Ghana, undergoing installation for hook up to the TEN field and later commissioning. This process is expected to be completed in four months time when first oil is expected.

The TEN field lies just 20 kilometres from the Jubilee field. It is also operated by Tullow. The project takes its name from the three offshore fields under development – Tweneboa, Enyenra and Ntomme –which are situated in the Deepwater Tano block, around 60 kilometres offshore Western Ghana.

The TEN Plan of Development was approved by the Government of Ghana in May 2013, and by mid 2015 the project was over 65% complete. All 10 pre-first oil wells were drilled ahead of schedule.

For players in the industry, one of the major reasons why the TEN project excite them is the fact that the project has progress despite the fall in crude oil prices on the international market, which has affected a lot of projects all over the world. Many planned projects in the upstream sector in a lot of countries have been put on hold. The good news about TEN is that the operators in spite of the current market down-turn continued with their commitment to carry on with the project.

“In fact the scope was rather changed by the operator to ensure that Ghana take advantage of the fall in the cost of construction, installations and other allied services. The other thing about the TEN project is that it has added on to the number of fields Ghana is currently producing from. This changes Ghana’s status from a single field producer,” Mr. Kwaku Boateng, Director of Special Services, Petroleum Commission, said.

According to Charles Darku, Tullow Ghana General Manager, “The TEN Project is of huge strategic importance to both Ghana and Tullow, so it is pleasing to see it making good progress towards first oil in mid-2016.” So far, since the installation and tie-in of the FPSO Prof John Evans Attah Mills to the TEN field started about a month ago, there has not been any reported incident; it has been running smooth.

“It is our anticipation that the few months ahead to complete the process will be incident free. But since this is a very technical engineering work that is being undertaken, there can be so many unanticipated challenges such as natural challenges among others,” Mr. Boateng hoped.

Local content

According to Tullow, the TEN Project is committed to maximising opportunities for Ghanaian businesses, and all major contractors were required to submit local content plans in their tenders. The TEN Project has built on the achievements of the Jubilee development to increase the amount of work undertaken in-country and achieve a number for firsts for Ghana.

TEN is Ghana’s first oil and gas project where important FPSO components have been fabricated in-country. The FPSO’s module support stools, which attach modules to the deck of the vessel, were fabricated in Tema and Takoradi by indigenous Ghanaian firms, Seaweld Engineering Ltd and Orsam Ltd. The FPSO’s nine suction piles, which will anchor the vessel to the seabed, are being fabricated at a new facility in Sekondi, in Ghana. Vital subsea production equipment is also being fabricated in Ghana. Harlequin International Ghana Ltd is making the subsea mud mats, and Subsea7 has constructed a new fabrication base in Sekondi where it is fabricating anchor piles for the subsea manifolds. The subsea christmas trees for the project will be assembled and tested by FMC Technologies at their state-of-the-art facility in Takoradi.

In addition, Hydra Offshore Group is supplying Ghanaian engineers for the project. Hydra Offshore Group is a Ghanaian-owned offshore and subsea engineering services company. The group, which was founded two years ago, has been engaged by TEN Project engineering services contractor, Wood Group Kenny, to provide engineers for the development. Ghanaian engineers from Hydra are now working with Wood Group Kenny in their London and Houston offices, enabling the knowledge transfer that will see Hydra engineers working on all stages of the TEN Project.

Harlequin International Ghana Ltd has been engaged by TEN Project subsea contractor FMC Technologies to manufacture subsea mud mats for the development. The mud mats will sit on the seabed in the TEN fields, supporting subsea production equipment. Following the award of the TEN Project contract, Harlequin has opened a new fabrication base in Takoradi to supplement its modern workshop facility in Tema. The award of the contract has also enabled Harlequin to send some of its staff to South Africa to gain internationally recognised welding qualifications.

“I am delighted that the TEN Project remains on track and is delivering benefits to Ghana. I visited the FPSO last year and it was fantastic to see components made in Ghana installed on the deck of the vessel. I was also able to meet three employees of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation who are on secondment in Singapore, learning how the vessel will operate. Earlier this year I was able to see for myself the capacity building that is ongoing when I visited the new fabrication facilities in Sekondi-Takoradi and I am optimistic for the future of our young oil industry in Ghana,” Hon Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, Minister for Petroleum.

“In terms of employment with TEN, we had an extensive discussion with Tullow whereby we review all the expatriate positions that are needed on the TEN FPSO and we would look at the ones that we think we have in-country capacity to be occupied by Ghanaians. Those that we do not have the in-country capacity and therefore has to be occupied by expatriate in the interim, we agree on a comprehensive succession plan and training program to develop Ghanaian capacity to fill that position,” Mr. Boateng indicated.

Tema Shipyard

As part of plans to maximize local content and in-country spend, the Petroleum Commission has been eyeing the Tema Dry Dock to see how to rehabilitate the place which has been left to deteriorate for use again. During the Jubilee FPSO construction there was an attempt by Tullow to find out what aspect of the fabrication work can be done at the shipyard.

Unfortunately, this move was misunderstood by the workers at the shipyard due to lack of communication on the matter, and eventually led to the abandoning of the idea. According to Mr. Boateng, the strategic positioning of the shipyard is very crucial to the growing oil and gas industry.

“If revamp the shipyard can be used for ship repairs, FPSO repairs and even later for vessel construction. Last year we started engaging the Tema Dry Dock as to how we can rehabilitate the shipyard, especially to benefit from the OCTP development. The shipyard does not have the resources to undertake the rehabilitation on their own. We need to raise those funds from the public or private sector. It later came to our notice that the Ministry of Transport is also trying to revamp the place through a public private sector partnership. We have been informed that there is a tender made by various companies to that effect.”

Available figures indicates that between 2010 and 2015 out of over US$7.5billion of contracts awarded, more than US$1billion went to indigenous Ghanaian companies. And in the last year alone of the total contracts awarded, 22% went to indigenous Ghanaian companies through the supply chain. In terms of employment, the Petroleum Commission says localization is around 72%.

“We are very confident that in subsequent development we would achieve greater success rate than this,” Mr. Boateng said.

More opportunities abound

The opportunities in Ghana’s oil and gas industry abound. As the TEN field is set to come on stream, the OCTP development is expected to start earnestly. It is also anticipated that that the HES development will also follows after the OCTP.

Currently there is an ongoing discussion among the Jubilee partners for the Greater Jubilee development. Tullow is working on the Plan of Development (PoD). GNPC is earnestly working on opening up the country’s onshore basin, the voltarian basin, which is the largest of all the sedimentary basins in Ghana and covers almost third of the land in the country. GNPC is in the last stages of getting some companies to come in to collect seismic data. “All these present great investment opportunities for International Oil Companies, Service Providers and indigenous Ghanaian companies,”

THE BOGA THEORY: FINDING AFRICAN SOLUTIONS TO AFRICAN PROBLEMS

2016-05-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

The need for Africa to find locally tailored solutions for the continents many challenges was the focus at the just concluded second edition of the Sub Saharan Africa Upstream Oil and Gas Summit and Exhibition in Accra, Ghana. The conference which was on the tagged, “Unlocking potentials in Sub Sahara Africa oil and gas” brought together key industry players from across Africa and beyond. “Until Africa domesticates strategies that have been adopted abroad in the Americas and Europe to dominate Africa, till we domesticate these ideas back home we will be subjecting ourselves to the whims and caprices of the multi nationals. We all know what Wall Street is. Wall Street is a major shareholder in all the big companies in the world. If Wall Street crashes today a lot of economies all over the world, especially in Africa, are going to crush. We do not have to allow that to happen. We need to have shock absorbers and that is why I came up with the BOGA theory”, said Dr. Anthony F Dowell Mirin, Executive Director, Deeptechnical International. BOGA stands for Bank for Oil and Gas Africa. The BOGA concept is to open up bespoke globally acceptable strategy for Sub-Sahara African Oil and Gas Project Financing Industry, with aims in support the building of a huge Oil and Gas Bank Financial Institution, as BOGA (Bank of Oil and Gas Africa) for handling Oil and Gas based Infrastructures, Energy, Technology and base Project Financing in Sub-Sahara Africa. The BOGA initiative strategy and framework is tailored to gainer support from prospective African energy producing countries and others. The Strategy aims at also enumerating the anathema of financial success of the Asian Giants, the Middle East Giant, the IMF and the OECD Country Financial Strategy, as against the Sub Sahara Africa Oil and Gas Financial Prowess. The BOGA Strategy and Framework is engineered to stimulating Bespoke Single-Window Financial and Investment Framework Sustainability, and Regional Dominance. The BOGA Financial Theory and the African Oil and Gas Developing Nations, currently needs a clinical inside out solution in developing and financing key and relevant onshore, offshore and Deep offshore energy Infrastructures, using inside out financing from collation of African investing nations and investing corporate organizations. The BOGA Bank theory as strategy is conceived to represent the first oil and bank Single-Window Investment Bank for multilateral energy development in 21st century financial world. The Strategy aims at developing frameworks for a participatory “Sub-Sahara African Country” participating process, for founding members. It is also focused to enumerating the framework and strategy implementation for Africa. “The papers discuss the strategy for Oil and Gas producing nations in Africa participatory structure and lean, with a small efficient management team and highly skilled management system. The paper marries the Asian AIIB (Asian International Investment Bank) frameworks, strategy, structure and major benefit to the Asian country and global industrialist nations. The BOGA Theory for Africa strategy is tailored to be a modern knowledge-based institution by framework, focusing on developing infrastructure, easing financial constraints, increasing and other productive energy sectors in Africa including power, transportation and telecommunications, and cross country logistics, within Sub-Sahara Africa, etc,” Mr. Mirin enumerated. Critically, the BOGA strategy opens up a global door for Africa partnership, with other developed nations in areas of Oil and Gas, Energy, Power, and Cross Country Logistics Infrastructure development. In addition to tradition to other financial source for Africa countries the BOGA Investment Bank creates a financing techniques, for fund sourcing, infrastructure project base implementation, PPP (Public Private Partnership) and NTNP (Nation to Nation Partnership) through new financial structuring offers from the BOGA Investment Banking which allows and ensures sufficient and efficient funding for oil and gas projects. According to Mr. Mirin, “If Ghana wants to build a refinery, it can approach Nigeria to give it the needed qualified human resource and pay Nigeria for its services in crude or cash. You and I know that the cost for Nigeria’s human resource and that of a foreign human resource from the UK or other European Country are not going to be the same. Africa has a lot of seasoned and well qualified craftsmen. We need to come together as a continent to patronize each other’s products and services. Whether we like it or not, truth be told, it is high time we stop being an appendage to our colonial fathers. We have long gone beyond that period of colonialism. Where we are now is the level we need to display what we have. We have all the resources to succeed on our own. The BOGA concept is going to support a lot of infrastructure growth in Africa. It is going to enable so many companies in Africa to grow fast because the lending rate is going to be at a single digit.” He however acknowledges that the success of the BOGA theory largely depend on the buy in of African leaders and therefore challenged them to “Stand up and do their job because it is not a luxury to be a leader.” On his part, Adesola Adebawo, Maneger-Communications Policy, Government and Public Affairs, Chevron Nigeria-Mid Africa Strategic Business Unit, indicated that “Africa is one of the richest continents in the world with vast potential mineral deposit. The opportunities to exploit these minerals exist and therefore it is time for Africa to wake to its full potential. We should not only exploit these minerals and let others take it away as raw material but we should add value to these resources and then let the rest buy from us value added products rather than just allow our resources to be taken away and we buy it back in expensive value from those who obtained it cheaply from us.” He pointed out that there are best practices as to how to efficiently manage ones resources. “There are countries that have exploited their resources and have made mistakes and successes that the rest of Sub Sahara Africa can learn from. From the presentations we have received from this conference it is obvious that we do not have to make the same mistakes before we learn from it. Sharing Chevrons experience in building strong partnership with the communities in which they operate at the conference, Mr. Adebawo noted that “Chevron is a conscientious busy organization which means that we are a company that seeks to be admired for our people partnership and performance. What we have presented in this conference is the product of that value. We work with people and our concern for the people around our areas of operations makes us work with them as partners rather than beneficiaries of our goodwill. We gain more in collaboration than in competition. Collaboration for development will always deliver value to all parties and every segment of stakeholders, as against competition. When we competes we talk passes each other but when we collaborate we engage.” Speaking on the theme “Preparing for the Challenges of changing times”, His Royal Majesty Oba Michael Adedotun Gbadebo, the Alake of Egbaland, noted that the summit provides a unique platform for African oil and gas key decision makers to discuss recent developments, opportunities, challenges and embrace innovative solutions, fresh ideas and best in class strategies to improve on overall business performance and investment. “This year, we are focusing on the emerging issues, recent development affecting the oil and gas sector and the way forward, especially with the current pricing level of crude in the international market. Efforts have been made to draw speakers from different parts of Africa to share their peculiar experiences. We cannot afford to lose to the current challenges facing the oil and gas sector. We have to be prepared for better tomorrow as we believe the future is bright for all stakeholders,” he observed. Hilary Joseph Akpan, General Manager, National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS) was full of praise for the organizers of the conference. “I am very impressed that we can do this locally at our level. We have been attending other events organized by expatriates for some time now. I am very impressed and look forward to the next event. Africa has a great potential to diversify it natural resources, but unfortunately the continent over focuses on crude oil; especially in this dwindling oil prices. If you stake your revenue base on just oil you will be disappointed. So it is very good that Africa look at other options. This conference focused on integration, resource sharing, cost management and efficiency in operations. This conference is very relevant especially during this time of falling crude oil prices. We need to focus more on gas because as a continent we need more gas to power our industries to create jobs. Gas should be at the forefront of our development drive. Over the years Africa has not done well with crude oil. We only sell it as a commodity. It is about time we start adding value to our crude to generate more revenue to develop our continent.”

1ST NEWS AND EDITORIAL SYMPOSIUM ON OIL AND GAS UNDERWAY IN GHANA

2016-04-28T16:20:00.001-07:00

Penplusbytes in partnership with Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) is organizing the 1st ever News and Editorial Symposium on Oil and Gas in Ghana from Friday 29th April, 2016 to 1st May, 2016 at Koforidua, the Eastern regional capital of Ghana. The symposium will provide an opportunity for reflection and discussions on key extractive policy and governance issues; an opportunity to keep abreast with current developments and trends in the industry; and a time for media practitioners to reacquaint with vital data and related resources for effective analysis to strengthen their reporting and coverage. Working with NRGI, Penplusbytes since 2010 has trained and supported Ghanaian editors and reporters to hone their skills and acquire the knowledge needed to effectively cover the extractive sectors of oil, gas, and mining. Also we have conducted a capacity development program for early- to mid-career journalists with a view of building and deepening their knowledge of extractive issues and essential journalistic skills. The symposium is expected to bring together about 25 media organizations including print, radio broadcast and online reporters from Daily Guide, the Finder newspaper, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Starrfm online just to mention a few. Top industry players and experts in the extractive sector such as Dr. Steve Manteaw, Chairman of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and Hon. Adam Mutawakilu, Vice Chairman of the Mines and Energy subcommittee of the Parliament of Ghana and Mr. Emmanuel Kuyole, Deputy Africa Director of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) are all expected to speak at the symposium. The executive director of Penplusbytes, Kwami Ahiabenu, II, added that, “By the end of the symposium, the participants will have identified newsworthy stories of public interest and issues that require rigorous journalistic inquiry and investigation to meaningfully inform Ghanaian citizens and generate relevant actions, responses, and policy reforms through decision makers, industry players, and oversight actors.” About Penplusbytes Penplusbytes is a not-for-profit organization driving change through innovations in three key areas: using new digital technologies to enable good governance and accountability, new media and innovations, and driving oversight for effective utilization of mining, oil and gas revenue and resources. About NRGI The aim of NRGI’s media programming in Ghana is to strengthen the capacity of journalists as oversight actors to effectively monitor the oil, gas, and mining sector. This is in line with one of NRGI’s country strategy objectives, which is to “support development of functioning oversight and transparency in the Ghanaian extractive sector.”

CUTTING COST ON LOW OIL PRICE EMPLOYING THE MARINE SEEPS DETECTION TECHNOLOGY

2016-04-28T13:34:00.001-07:00

The continued decline of crude oil prices on the international market has led to many players in the industry adopting prudent spending measures including the reduction in headcounts and capital expenditure. Though the boom and bust cycle is very common in this industry, the current decline has taken longer than anticipated partly due to the bullish stand of OPEC. The decline in crude oil prices have started taking a major toll on oil producing countries in Africa where the effect has begun to bite hard, especially when it comes local players in the industry. It therefore comes as no surprise that in Ghana, the Petroleum Commission, the regulator of the upstream sector of the country’s oil and gas industry, has adopted the posture of introducing to local players a more cost effective ways of doing business through training workshops. This, the Commission seeks to achieve through collaborating with companies with new technology and research that can drastically reduce the cost of doing business in the country. One of such training workshop organized by the Commission in February was with Fugro on marine seeps detection technology. Marine seeps are hydrocarbon – enriched fluids that have travelled from a reservoir deep in the subsurface to the seabed or seawater column. Sampling and studying these seeps provide information and enhance the understanding of the oil reservoir thus lowering exploration risks. The training was to equip participants with skills on how to utilize the technology as a tool to minimize risks and costs during exploration. “The Petroleum Commission is collaborating with these experts to highlight the importance of seeps. For the new entrants, people with new petroleum agreement, they have mapped their prospects but they don’t know whether it contains anything. Exploration is just mapping prospects and until you drill you will not know whether it contains anything. But when you have this kind of technology and you run it over your prospect, it is then that you see evidence of the success or otherwise of your prospect,” Mr. Chris Fordjor, an Advisor to the Petroleum Commission indicated. He maintained that marine seeps detection technology gives you a high confidence of making it a success and minimizes your risk of drilling that prospect. “It reduces the risk of drilling a dry well. If you drill a dry well, about 50 to 60million dollars is gone,” he observed. He emphasized that as the regulator of the upstream sector of the industry, the commission will encourage as many who want to demonstrate new technologies that have been developed to reduce cost. He however quickly pointed out that the “Commission is not championing the organization of such things, but if any research institution approaches us that they have this type of research and we find it to be good for players in the industry, we will endorsed it and help in organizing it.” According to Daniel Doolittle, Senior Geoscientist Exploration Project Manager, Fugro, “The market has responded to the need to find an efficient way to gather data for offshore exploration, and traditionally that has been done with very expensive 3D seismic vessels and that is a wonderful tool. Seismic data tells you what type of structure that you have, it tells you the potential volumes of what may be in those structures but it does not tell you what. And to get to the what, you have to do geochemical analysis on the materials that have been collected in that area. Traditionally, you have to drill, which is very expensive, to the targeted area, gather the materials and analyze it geochemically and then you will know whether you have a successful reservoir or an economic reservoir. These geochemical seeps hunting surveys allow much more efficient approach to not just determining the volumes of materials that may be in offshore reservoir, but finding these leaking hydrocarbons typically coming out of these reservoirs. And if we sample them precisely and accurately we can get very good geochemical results of what is in that reservoir. It is much more economical, it is much more efficient than drilling for it.” He noted that using the marine seeps detection technology is probably on the order of less than $100,000.00 a day, adding that, “But for using a drilling rig or a seismic vessel add a few more zeroes to that.” Mr. Doolittle pointed out that the main challenge for any exploration manager in oil and Gas Company is reducing risk. “You have to find an amount of resources and you have to choose among a global portfolio what to deploy those resources towards, usually money. If you choose one that is not successful as another, that is a real risk to your business. What we call exploration risk is very real, and so is exploration cost; the risk of a project going over the budget. What a seep hunting campaign can do is to go in and start answering some of those risk questions very early on at much less expense than the other methods available. Another scenario which is very common is to have a small company that does not have a lot of resources but have won a bid round; they were able to gain the right from a national oil company or from a foreign country to explore optical section of the offshore environment. They have a plan; they see something that maybe the big oil and gas companies do not see. So they are taking the risk by being the small player. If they can find a good geochemical result in their block that proves that there is an active petroleum system occurring, they can take that data point and walk into the board room of a major oil company and ask them to invest with them or even farm in. So it also serves as a risk reduction tool for smaller companies,” he explained. Fugro has a very strong presence in West Africa. The company said it is committed to a long term presence in Ghana despite the declining crude oil prices on the market. For Vincent van Santen, Business Development Manager, Fugro, “We are we putting so much effort on this type of knowledge and technology because at the end of the line people want to spend money more efficiently, especially at this time when oil prices are very low. It is a cost saver for our client. It is a very high cost seismic survey data system. If you do this type of survey it is relatively cheap survey to get a lot more information and much more efficiency. And that is the context why we are here.” He said everywhere Fugro starts an office, the company always build a strong local presence and train local people through our Fugro Academy. This he pointed out fall in line with the localization and knowledge transfer requirement of the Petroleum Commission.

GHANA GAS EMBARKS ON OPERATION “IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING” -TO PROTECT GAS INFRASTRUCTURE

2016-04-28T13:27:00.002-07:00

By Gilbert Boyefio The Ghana Gas Company Limited (Ghana Gas) has embarked on an operation to secure its entire oil and gas infrastructure in the country against any terrorist attacks. The operation “If you see something, say something”, is expected to involved members of the host communities that houses Ghana Gas projects infrastructures to be actively involved in the security of the facilities by being vigilant, cautious, curious and report any unusual circumstances to the law enforcement agencies. In an address before closed door meeting with heads of security agencies at the Atuabo Gas Processing Plant, Dr. George Sipa Yankey, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Gas, said he has directed the Community Relations Department and Community Liaison Officers in the project affected communities to draw up a plan of engagement with the 60 communities along the Right Of Way (ROW). “We should inculcate the culture of if you see something, say something into members of the community. I entreat staff and community members to be security conscious since the security of the state is everyone’s business, he noted. As part of the security arrangement, a Ghana Gas management team led by the CEO is to meet with the Ghana Air Force to outline measures on how to further strengthen the aerial surveillance of the gas infrastructure with the Z9 helicopters. The West African sub region has seen a number of terrorist attacks in recent times, with major attacks in Nigeria, Niger and Mali. Burkina Faso, Ghana’s neighbor to the north, suffered an attack in January this year, which left thirty people dead and several injured. In line with these concerns and enhance the protection of the nation’s premier gas infrastructure, the Ghana Gas met with key heads of security to assess threat levels and map out plans and strategies to enhance security. The meeting was also expected to discuss plans to enhance coordination and sharing of security information and strategies among the various security institutions within the project affected districts. This will create a platform for sharing information on potential and reported disturbances to the gas infrastructure, including the 111km right of way from Ellembele to the Shama Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and the 58km offshore pipelines.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT KNUST WITH US$12.9M

2016-04-28T13:19:00.003-07:00

The Ministry of Petroleum through its Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP) last week commissioned two state of the art laboratories, the chemical and petrochemical laboratories for KNUST’s College of Engineering. During a ceremony held at the University, the Petroleum Minister, Hon. Emmanuel Armah-kofi Buah in an address delivered on his behalf by Mr. J.B. Okai, Director for Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) at the Petroleum Ministry indicated that the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project seeks to improve public management and regulatory capacity while enhancing transparency; and strengthen local technical skills in Ghana’s oil and gas sector. The Minister also emphasized that, “to date a total amount of US$12.9 million has been spent on KNUST’s laboratory refurbishment, goods and equipment, and training” he said. Vice Chancellor of the school, Prof. W. O. Ellis thanked Government for the continuous support in building the capacity of the University. According to Prof. Ellis, the University will apply strict maintenance rules to ensure that the laboratories are always in good condition. The Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project has supported KNUST in various ways. To date, a total of 11-staff of the university have benefitted from postgraduate education abroad. This consists of 7 Master of Science Degrees (MSc) and 4 Doctorate Degrees (PhD). Six of the MSc have been at post since the beginning of the 2014/2015 academic year and constitute the foundation of staffing in the petroleum Engineering programme. A number of short-term visits by international staff to lecture on the existing undergraduate programme have also been facilitated by the project. Furthermore, books and reference materials have been procured and installed in the College of Engineering Library. A new building housing the six thematic Petroleum engineering laboratories and equipment was commissioned in April 2015. Space has been refurbished in the chemical and petrochemical laboratories for chemical and petrochemical engineering. Last but not least, equipment worth about US$2.5 million has been procured and set up in 4 thematic Labs: Process Development Lab, the unit Operations Lab, Biotechnology Lab and Instrumentation lab. Prof. S. I. K Ampadu, Provost, College of Engineering in his special recognition address stated that, the College of Engineering is now well equipped to train students in both upstream and downstream sector of the oil and gas industry because of the Oil and Gas Capacity Building Project (OGCBP) by Government. Currently what remains outstanding for KNUST under the OGCBP is the completion of training of 4 PhD students in the Petroleum and Petrochemical Engineering Departments. It is expected that 2 PhD holders will return to the College of Engineering later this year while the remaining two will join the faculty next year. In addition, 7 laboratory staff have been earmarked for training this year on the use of the newly installed equipment. Other beneficiary institutions under the Oil and Gas Capacity Project since 2010 include: Petroleum Commission (PC), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Economic and Organized Crimes Office (EOCO), Attorney General’s Department (AG), Regional Maritime University (RMU), Takoradi Technical Institute (TTI), Kikam Technical Institute (KTI) and Ministry of Petroleum (MoPET).

Without Monitoring and Evaluation Local Content Will be a Joke -Oil and Gas Insurance Pool Manager

2013-08-01T06:58:00.000-07:00

The Manager of the Oil and Gas Insurance Pool in Ghana has stressed that without a proper monitoring and evaluation mechanism being put in place to ensure that the local content policy framework is being implemented as it should, the country’s local content aspirations will be a big joke and a fiasco. According to him, “A greater portion of the local content policy being touted by government will remain a text book material until we take monitoring and evaluation seriously”. To the Manager of the Oil and Gas Insurance Pool, Mr Farris Attrickie, his lack of faith in the local content police framework stem from the fact that there are already a lot of policies in place in the country that are not being enforced. “We are a very funny people. We know that there are laws made even in the cocoa sector and the mining sector that are not enforced but rather flouted with impudence. Yet we keep on adding to them. I don’t believe in policies. Though policies are good but they are just the first step towards finding solutions. The critical part of policy making is its implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and that is what we lack as a nation. Before we even dream about local content for the oil and gas sector to protect us all, we have the Insurance Law, Act 724 of 2006, which provides that all assets, properties or interest emanating from Ghana has to be insured through a Ghanaian insurance company. And where the business is big that there is the need to insure and reinsure abroad you needs to ensure that you have satisfied the local insurance market first before the excess can go outside Ghana. But this is the theory, and to all theories it might not be applied the way it should be as in the case of Ghana. We have to see practical steps being taken. Now, if you tell me you are doing ABCD to solve this issue I will be confident in your policy. The sweetness of the pudding is in the eating. For example, if the policy says that when you import anything to be used in the oil and gas sector in Ghana you have to insure it in Ghana, those at the port should ensure that before they clear your goods you show an evidence that you have insured the product in Ghana.” He indicated that the challenge here is that some of the international oil companies are not insuring locally and some of those who do also do not insure everything locally, adding that, “Some of the IOCs even import machineries to be used in the oil and gas sector and brings them into the country Cost Insurance and Freight (CIF) instead of Cost and Freight (CF) for the insurance to be done locally. Our marine insurance companies here are also seldom used by these companies.” Mr Attrickie however refused to divulge the names of these defaulting international oil companies. He advocated for measures to be put in place that will ensure that anyone who flout the policy ends up rather in a hotter situation. “So I can tell you that with the issue of local content we are just doing the right thing the wrong way. We need to be touting the sanctions for breaches, what is the penalty, what is the fine, what do we do to discourage people from going round the local content law,” he added. Background of the Oil and Gas Insurance Pool Ghana’s oil and gas insurance pool was established in August 2010 by a resolution from the General Council of the Ghana Insurance Association. It started with a membership of 25 insurance companies in Ghana but two of its members were recently withdrawn from the pool by the Insurance Commissioner for their inability to pay their outstanding debt to the pool. The share contribution and distribution of the members of the oil and gas insurance pool is based on 10perecnt of their net asset, using the companies totaled 2009 net assets profit. The pool has a well laid out structure and constitution. The CEOs of member companies are the shareholders, which is called the General Assembly. It has a management board made up of the top seven members. There is a secretary to the pool. The secretary has to be a lawyer of good standing and an employee of any of the members of the pool. The manager of the pool is appointed by the management board. The position of a pool manager is a 2 years renewable, but 3 years for the secretary and members of the management board. The pool currently has a capital mobilization of about $22million and this is the amount pledged by members. In 2011 and 2012 the pool made $535.000 and $1.4million gains respectively for insuring oil and gas businesses.

Ghana’s Chamber of Mines advocate for revenue management law

2013-08-01T06:52:00.003-07:00

The Ghana Chamber of Mines has reiterated its willingness to partner with government to implement a revenue management law for the mining sector that caters adequately for key stakeholders particularly host communities and generations unborn. According to the group, without a clear policy instrument analogous to the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Act 815), mining industry revenues will continue to be treated as a source of funds for consumption. “Coming as we know from a finite resource, we will surely wake up one day and ask what happened to all the revenue from the mining industry. The refrain will be oh! We did not get enough from the mining industry. As intimated earlier, such excuses do not hold any longer if we do not get our act together as a country,” Mr Sulemanu Koney, a Director at the Ghana Chamber of Mines commented. Currently, corporate tax payment from the mining industry has outstripped mineral royalty. Indeed information from the Ghana Revenue Authority indicates that the mining industry’s position as the leading contributor to domestic tax collection is largely on account of the large payment of corporate tax from the sector. To put this in perspective, the Ghana Revenue Authority collected about GH1.46 billion from the mining industry in 2012, representing 27percent of its domestic collection in the year. The payment of GH893.77 million in corporate tax for the same period also representing 36.98percent of total corporate tax collected. According to Mr Koney in the absence of the revenue management law for the mining sector, the worry is that the huge amounts being accrued from the sector will go into consumption without a portion set aside for posterity. Large scale mining and the Mine Support Services sub sector employs about 27,000 people. An estimated 500,000 people are engaged in the small scale gold, diamonds, sand winning, quarry and salt industries. Total foreign direct investment into the minerals and mining sector, from 1983 to 2012 amounted to some US$13.5 billion with total gold production at all time high of 4.2 million ounces. Like the mining sector, the contribution of the new oil and gas sector to the economy cannot be overemphasized. In terms of revenue contribution, the total oil and gas receipt at the end of 2012 was US$541.62 million (equivalent to Gh978.32 million) representing 6.6percent of domestic revenue and 1.4percent of Gross Domestic Product. The Ghana EITI has so far produced nine EITI reports in the mining sector and one for the oil and gas sector in order to make revenue information on the extractive sector available to the general public. The findings and recommendations from these reports are significant. According to Major (Rtd) M S Tara, Chief Director at Ghana’s Ministry of Finance, government has taken seriously the recommendations of the earlier EITI reports and implemented most of them. The recommendations of the EITI reports have informed a wide range of policy reforms in the mining sector. Particularly, they have led to the review of mineral royalty payments from a range of 3-6percent to a fixed rate of 5percent; an ongoing upward review of ground rent; increase in the corporate tax rate from 25 percent to 35 percent; the replacement of the previous 100 percent capital cost recovery with a uniform capital allowance regime of 20 percent for five years, all with a view of ensuring equitable returns from the sector to the people of Ghana, the resource owners. Major (Rtd) Tara indicated that increased transparency and accountability is the fundamental cornerstone of the EITI. Advocates of the transparency believe that governments who disclose their incomes from oil, gas and minerals are much more likely to spend those resources wisely. This means that more children can get education they deserve; more mothers can receive the healthcare they need; more young people can find jobs to be able to escape poverty. Furthermore, EITI advocates also believe that effective implementation of the initiative will ensure that less money will be lost to corruption, because people can access the information needed to hold their governments and companies to account.

Are Local players seeing benefits in Ghana’s oil and gas sector?

2013-07-22T04:29:00.005-07:00

Since the production of oil started in Ghana there have been several arguments and disagreement as to whether local players are gainfully and successfully participating in the industry. While international oil companies have alleged engaging thousands of Ghanaians directly and indirectly, Civil Society groups thinks otherwise. According to the Civil Society groups a lot of Ghanaian companies have not been able to obtain any real opportunities worth talking about in the industry. They claimed that opportunities for local players in the industry in Ghana are none existing. Answering questions on local participation by Ghanaian in the oil and gas industry in Ghana at the just ended 4th Ghana Summit, Dr Steve Manteaw, Chairman Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas and Vice Chairman, Ghana EITI Steering Committee, emphasized that “Most of the Ghanaian companies are still struggling, with a lot of them who have registered with the GNPC not getting the opportunities they anticipated. They are left to fend for themselves.” He said for Civil Society groups government has to take another look at its local content targets and also review the hefty registration fees being charged by the Petroleum Commission. However in his presentation on strengthening local content through collaboration, Willy H Olsen Senior Advisor INTSOK and Senior Associate at the CWC Group, said oil discovery has created more than 1500 jobs with 60% being Ghanaians. He maintained that the gradual growth of the industry has led to the migration of diaspora professionals to fill in various positions. Many of the Oil companies are now well established in the country with major oil and gas services players like MODEC, TECHNIP, AKER Solutions, FMC Technologies, Subsea 7, Schlumberger, Transocean, Baker Hughes, Expro, and Tenaris locating in Ghana. To him, “Maximizing the benefits of local content is not the same as to maximize local content” Touching on the lack of local participation in the oil and gas sector, especially the upstream sector, Dr Kwabena Donkor, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy, insisted that upstream petroleum activities are very capital intensive and therefore companies that are allowed to participate in the sector should be able to fund their activities. Currently, a Ghanaian company wishing to participate in the upstream petroleum sector has to pay a registration fee of Gh3700.00 equivalent of $2000.00. He disclosed that before the introduction of this new monetary regime, there were over 700 local companies, including hairdressers, registered with the GNPC all wanting a part of the upstream pie. He was of the view that if the monetary bar is set too low the system gets choked and it becomes difficult to pick and choose winners. “Any company that cannot pay $2000.00 registration fee in my opinion has no business being in upstream operations. You can join the other sectors of the petroleum chain and grow your business from there,” he added. Dr Donkor, who is also the Parliamentary Member for the Pru East Constituency, admitted that “whether we like it or not, at this stage of our national development we will have to nurture a number of Ghanaian companies to grow and play the role that the Amaja’s, which are indigenous in any case, are playing currently. The African work force challenge The shape of the African workforce will change dramatically. Currently 60% of Africa’s population is below 25 years. Some 60% of the total labor force engages in some form of self-employment such as subsidence farming and urban street hawking. 120 million people will enter into the labor force over the next ten years. if current trend continues, some 54 million new wage-paying jobs will be created which will new millions without a permanent job. The oil industry needs to invest in the young generation and do all it can to transfer knowledge from the experienced to the younger professionals. SME’s critical for Ghana’s success SMEs create jobs and generate income in low-income countries; often accounting for more than 60% of GDP and 70% of employment. They play a major role in the economy in Ghana. They can influence stability through employment and attraction of foreign direct investments. Small and medium sized enterprises provide opportunities to build stability by connecting different ethnic, social and religious groups through work. Micro and small enterprises have the closest links to local communities providing subsistence and a specialized understanding of local context.

Are Local players seeing benefits in Ghana’s oil and gas sector?

2013-07-22T04:29:00.003-07:00

Changing Africa from a dark continent to a bright continent

2013-07-22T04:16:00.001-07:00

According to Ask.com contrary to what people might think, the name ‘Dark Continent’ was not given to Africa because of the colour of the people living there, but because of the mystery that surrounded the place back when the Europeans first visited there. Africa is the world’s second largest and second most populous continent. At about 30.2 million kilometer square including adjacent islands it covers six percent of the earth’s total surface. However, seen from space, Africa at night is said to be very dark and unlit, which probably gives the name dark continent a new meaning. Africa’s power sector is woefully behind the rest of the world, with energy consumption per capita only one percent of that of high income countries. The continent is believed to generate only 4percent of global electricity. According to the Energy Information Administration, in West Africa only about 30% of the total population of approximately 250 Million has access to electricity, with almost 70% of the people in the sub region literally in darkness. In sharp contrast, the sub region is home to significant energy resources namely oil, natural gas, coal and hydroelectric power. Although adequate energy supply resources are available, there are significant technical and financial challenges in harnessing and sustaining electricity delivery to end-users. To help change and improve on the power shortage situation on the sub continent, the International Quality and Productivity Centre (IQPC) organized a Power and Electricity West Africa conference in Accra, Ghana, bringing together West Africa’s power sector leaders to deliberate and find solutions to the numerous challenges facing the West Africa power sector such as how to access funding, inside knowledge on projected power demand, a closer look at upcoming projects, opportunities for involvement in development of local generators, blueprints for increased implementation of clean technology and sustainability. This event was the first of its kind in the region - bringing local, regional and international minds to map a strategic road going forward. Speaking on the topic: Commercial opportunities in gas and LNG fired power generation, Oliver Andrews of the African Finance Corporation, indicated that 7000MW of new generation capacity is required in Africa each year to meet suppressed demand and projected economic growth. With US$26bn required for new capacity. West Africa requires additional capacity of 10,000MW to meet its power demand by 2020. Since 2007, over 30 IPPs have been licensed to produce power in West Africa but not with much success. West Africa accounts for 30% of Africa’s gas reserves: Nigeria (180tcf), Ivory Coast (1tcf), Ghana (840bcf) and Benin (40bcf). New generation capacity are likely to be driven by thermal (natural gas generation), especially with the completion of the West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAGP). Natural gas already accounts for 45% of generation capacity in West Africa. Electricity demand in the sub-region currently outstrips supply. Meanwhile strong growth in demand is being experienced. Access to electricity unacceptably low and if improved as expected, will exacerbate the demand and supply imbalance. “Countries in the region should ensure implementation of efficient pricing policies critical to sustainability of power investments, operation and maintenance. Promote innovative financing arrangements with private – public partnership, and competitive pricing and clear policy guidelines key to unleashing available commercial opportunities in LNG and gas to power market in West Africa,” he recommended. Energy Financing In Africa To Janos Bonta and Aart Muller, both from the Netherlands Development Finance Corporation, the energy crisis in Sub-Sahara Africa presents an enormous potential of the energy market in the region. There is a huge potential for all types of energy, as the continent has abundance of all types of natural resources. Hydro’s, wind, geothermal and solar can all contribute to the continent’s energy mix. Gas-fired power plant potential is especially large, because of exploration and exploitation of large off-shore gas reserves currently on-going and planned for the short term. As many African governments do not have the money to invest all needed for power generation and transmission themselves, a lot needs to be done by independent power producers (IPPs). However, many countries still need to implement regulatory reforms to allow IPPs to enter the market. In sub-Sahara Africa, countries like Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Tanzania, Ghana and Ivory Coast do have the regulatory framework to create room for IPPs in place. Extensive renewable energy regulation for the private sector has also been set up in South Africa, leading to the development of many wind- and solar projects. A problem remains the low tariffs for end-users of electricity, which are not cost reflective. There exists a lot of resistance against the increase of electricity prices, from both governments and civil society. Key Element For Successful Energy Financing Committed and experienced (strategic) investor, with proven track-record, putting sufficient equity at risk and providing project completion risk support; clear regulatory framework, ensuring fair treatment of IPPs, providing for strong long-term PPA from creditworthy utility or client; cost-competitiveness of power generation, leading to affordable least-cost energy solutions; financial sustainability with minimum DSCRs, also in stress scenarios; environmental and social compliance with the highest international standards. IFC Performance Standards will apply; risks assessment by best-of-class independent advisors (legal, technical, insurance, E&S, financial model); project and finance documents to comply with international standards. Loan documentation in English or NY Law; experienced and strong EPC and O&M Contractors. Warranties and long-term service contracts should be in place and fuel supply, where applicable, secured by long-term contracts.

Lack of funds undermines operations of oversight committee and regulator

2013-07-22T03:46:00.001-07:00

The lack of governmental support and funds for many of the institutions set up to police the oil and gas industry has been the centre of debates in Ghana since the commercialization of oil started. This situation continues to attract public concerns with many calling on government to show the political will and address the deficiencies in these institutions. Latest to add his voice to this debate in an interview with Orient Energy Review is the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Mines and Energy, Hon Kwabena Donkor. According to him, a critical institution like the Petroleum Commission, which was established by article 821 in 2011 and is currently the regulator and manager of Ghana’s petroleum resources, a role they took from the Minister of Energy who hitherto regulates the sector with the assistance of the GNPC, is under resourced. He disclosed that “no budgetary allocation has been made for the Petroleum Commission in the current Government of Ghana budget”. Since its creation, the Commission has had to operate from temporary locations. “Funds were recently sourced from government and other sources to get the Commission a permanent office for the secretariat operations. The place is being readied for them to move in soon,” he added. Another institution that has suffered the blunt of government’s indecisiveness is the Public Interest Accountability Committee, established by the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, Act 815, which was heralded worldwide for its creation and in depth reports on the oil and gas industry in Ghana. More than two years in its existence, the Committee still remains under resourced. The Committee that was inaugurated on September 15 2011 and began meeting the following month continues to be housed by the Revenue Watch Institute of Africa Regional Office in Accra till last week in June. It was just recently that some funds were made available to the Committee by government. “We have received correspondence to the effect that funds have been allocated to us but we are yet to actually receive the money,” confirmed Major Daniel Sowa Ablorh Quarcoo to the Orient Energy Review. The amount allocated to the Committee’s operations, which also includes arrears owed them by government is 856,000.00. Compared to the budget the Committee sent to government, this amount is inadequate. “We cannot make the point louder enough but what we have received to the budget we presented, then it would not be enough to fund our operations,” he added. So far the PIAC has had to rely on some of the staff of their benefactors to help in their day to day operations. All the other members of the Committee operate from their respective offices. Major Ablorh-Quarcoo disclosed that a new place has been secured with the help of government and other development partners for their operations and they will be moving in soon. Weakness In Legal Framework The challenges faced by these institutions are not limited to the lack of support and funding but also the legal framework establishing them. According to a study undertaken for and in collaboration with the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas with funding from STAR-Ghana, there appear to be some serious weaknesses in Act 815 provisions related to PIAC that undermine its ability to monitor and serve as an independent watchdog over the Petroleum Funds. The study says ideally, this Committee should serve as an important link between Petroleum Fund Managers and the public, providing independent assurance that the funds are being managed properly. However, as the Act is currently written, the Committee could be subjected to undue influence by the very people or officials it is supposed to monitor. “Although the objectives of the Committee are laudable, it is unclear whether the Committee is empowered to investigate issues on its own initiative or whether it may only act at the behest of Parliament or the Executive. Furthermore, the Act states that the Committee must publish two reports a year and hold public meetings, but there is no guidance or minimum requirement specifying the topics the Committee should report on. The most significant threat to the integrity of the Committee is the fact that members are appointed by the Minister. The Minister is responsible for overseeing and administering the Petroleum Fund and, yet is permitted to appoint the “independent” Committee that is charged with the responsibility for ensuring that the Funds are being managed prudently and in accordance with the Act,” the study stressed. For the Petroleum Commission, the study reveals that the primary implementation issue arising out of the Act 821, the law setting up the Commission, is the clearly conflicting objectives of the Commission. It said the most blatant conflict is seen in Section 2 Clause 2e and f which states that the Commission is responsible for ensuring “optimal exploitation of petroleum resources” while at the same time ensuring “compliance with health, safety and environmental standards,” as well as compliance with fiscal metering requirement. The study pointed out that both the laws establishing PIAC and the Petroleum Commission share identical conflict of interest issues. Like Act 815, Act 821’s conflict of interest provisions are incomplete and inadequate.

Government plays hide and seek with information

2013-07-22T03:38:00.000-07:00

Many stakeholders in Ghana’s oil and gas industry will bear witness to the fact that access to information on the extractive industry in Ghana is not easy to come by and therefore with government announcement of Cabinet’s approval of the Freedom of Information Bill, comes joy and fanfare however short lived. Also institutions that play key role in the extractive industry in Ghana such as the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative Secretariat and the Public Interest Accountability Committee have readily welcomed the announcement. The freedom of information bill basically seeks to make all government information available to every Ghanaian citizen upon request. According to Mr Franklin Ferdinand Ashiadey, Coordinator of the EITI, the announcement is welcomed news and “It will complement our work greatly. People that are not willing to disclose information due to secrecy or confidentiality will be compelled to do so”. For Ishmael Edjekumhene, a member of PIAC, “Any law that seeks to entrench transparency, accountability and good governance is welcome news for us”. PIAC is one of the few institutions in Ghana whose operation is not hindered by confidentiality clauses. “Even GNPC is compelled to give as confidential information”, he added. According to Section 49 Clause 5 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, Act 815, “The declaration of confidentiality shall not limit access to information by Parliament and the Public Interest Accountability Committee established under this Act”. Clauses 1 and 2 of Section 49 of the same Act 815 emphasis transparency as a fundamental principle and demands that the management of petroleum revenue and savings shall always be carried out with the highest internationally accepted standards of transparency and good governance. It further provides that the duties concerned with ancillary matters of petroleum revenue and savings shall be discharged with the highest internationally accepted standards of transparency and good governance. However, Clauses 3 and 4 of Section 49 seems to contradict the spirit of access to information when it provides that “Information or data, the disclosure of which could in particular prejudice significantly the performance of the Ghana Petroleum Funds may be declared by the Minister as confidential, subject to the approval of Parliament. The declaration of confidentiality shall provide a clear explanation of the reason for treating the information or data as classified, taking into account the principles of transparency and the right of the public to information”. But latest developments indicate that the jubilations have to be put on hold since the bill is not out of the woods yet. According to the Commonwealth Human Right Initiative, CHRI, the present location and status of the bill cannot be determined. Mina Mensah, Regional Coordinator for CHRI and a member of the Right to Information Coalition told Orient Energy Review that their checks at the legislature yielded no result as the lawmaking body indicated that the bill has not been laid before it. A quick check at the Attorney General’s office was also inconclusive. She complained that the coalition is deeply concern with the secrecy surrounding government announcement and the actual status of the bill, adding that, “As I speak to you now, we cannot tell the content of the bill, whether it includes the recommendations we proposed or not and whether changes have been made to it from the old one.” She was of the view that the moment government announced the approval of the bill the content should have been in the public domain. The Freedom of Information Bill has been on the table of successive government in Ghana for a long time. The role access of information plays in good governance, transparency and accountability cannot be overemphasized. According to the Human Right Watch, the public should be able to hold governments accountable for the decisions they make. The group insisted that transparency can only be said to exist in an atmosphere were ordinary citizens can freely access and asses government data, scrutinize government decisions and hold leaders responsibly for the decisions they made. A recent report on the Resource Governance Index (RGI), which measures the quality of governance in the oil, gas and mining sector of 58 countries worldwide base on four criteria: legal framework, transparency levels, checks and balances and its broader governance context; reveals that transparency and good governance is crucial to most of the countries sampled, especially African countries, in maximizing their earnings in the extractive industry. The RGI is based on the premise that good governance of natural resources is necessary for the successful development of countries with abundant oil, gas and minerals. It provides a diagnostic tool to help identify good practices as well as governance shortcomings. In another report issued in May by the Africa Progressive Panel on the extractives industry in Africa which underscore the need for greater transparency in the extractive industry, the Former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, “emphasized that success will require leadership, transparency, and accountability, too. There is no substitute for public scrutiny in developing effective and equitable policies. African governments must rise to the challenges posed by fiscal policy, tax reform and the development of industrial policies. They must manage their countries’ oil, gas and mining resources efficiently and share revenues fairly.”

EITI report reveals a government agency refuse to disclosed data on oil revenue

2013-04-15T10:47:00.001-07:00

A final report on the aggregation and reconciliation of oil and gas sector payments and receipts for 2010 and 2011 by the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative has reveal the unwillingness on the part of some big players in the industry including a government agency to disclose information regarding their earnings. The Bank of Ghana, which is responsible for the day-to-day operational management of the Petroleum Holding fund, the Ghana Petroleum Funds and subsequently the Ghana Petroleum Wealth Fund under the terms of the Operations Management Agreement as captured in Section 26 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011, declined to provide details of the petroleum Holding Fund Account. Other companies that also refused to participate in the process were Sabre Oil and Gas Limited and Anadarko (Ghana) Limited. This was contained in the first ever oil and gas aggregated report on the oil and gas industry in Ghana. According to the report authored by Messrs Boas and Associates (an independent third party) on behalf of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, the “The EITI reporting process has been challenging as companies and government institutions were reluctant to provide data. In general International Oil Companies (IOC’s) were not willing to provide information beyond payments made to the government. Some actually stated their unwillingness or inability to provide information beyond that which is statutorily required.” Sharing this frustration, the National Coordinator of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, Mr. Franklin Ferdinand Ashiadey noted that some of the companies are hesitant to disclose their earnings because they opined that the EITI is not obligatory, emphasizing that, “This is why we are seriously pushing for the Ghana Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative Bill, which makes it obligatory and mandatory for companies and government institutions to disclose information. The Bank of Ghana for instance was not ready to disclosed oil and gas revenues they have received because they insist the Bank of Ghana Act has made them independent. The Bank has been operating in a world their own for far too long. If the GHEITI Bill is passed we do not hope to encounter the challenges that we are having with the Bank of Ghana in future again.” The EITI aims at enhancing transparency around the generation and spending of revenues from extractive sector to improve development outcomes reduce the potential for corruption or large scale embezzlement of funds by host governments and to provide citizens with a basis for demanding a fair share of its resources. This report presents the results of the reconciliation of payments by the oil and gas companies including the National Oil Company, GNPC, and receipts by the Government of Ghana. They include both cash and in-kind flow payments in 2010 and 2011. The participating oil and gas companies in the reconciliation exercise consisted of partners in the Jubilee producing field and the Saltpond offshore Producing Company. Relevant Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies in the petroleum sector also participated. The assignment was categorized into three phases. These included: inception, Reconciliation and the validation and feedback phase. The objectives of the report include the following: collect, analyze and aggregate payments made by oil and gas companies to Government of Ghana; reconcile oil and gas companies’ submissions of payments to those received by Government; analyze the disbursements to the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), Annual Budget Funding Amount and the Ghana Petroleum Funds; and utilize lessons learnt from the reconciliation process to enhance Transparency in payments, receipts, disbursements and utilization of these benefits. The terms of reference (TOR) for the assignment however required the reconciler to analyze and comment on some details including operating cost, capital allowance computation, prices and liftings by GNPC and the IOC’S. Surprisingly, all the companies and relevant government agencies associated with the oil and gas industry were represented on the committee that came out with the terms of reference for the reconciliation. “They knew the terms of reference and therefore it was startling that they are not forth coming with the necessary information being asked of them,” Mr Ashiadey pointed out. “If you looked at the TOR it is very far reaching. We wanted to dig really deeper than required by the international EITI and get to the bottom of some the problems and gray areas that has not been addressed by the international EITI” he added. Mr. Ashiadey pointed out that the essence of the EITI report is to sensitize and empower ordinary citizen to know how much their natural resources are generating. It is also to empower civil society groups to take it up as an advocacy tool to go out there and ask the right questions and get maybe the right answers from the people who are in authority or power. This has to do with accountability and transparency. The report will help people to ask how monies given to the District Assemblies from for instance the mining side was used by the local authority. This will help the local people demand accountability from their local leaders by so doing making them careful of how they use revenue from their natural resources. The EITI Steering Committee apart from sensitizing the people and holding district and regional stakeholders meetings also follow up on the recommendations emanating from the various EITI report to ensure that they are adhered to or implemented. “Today we have our royalty reviewed from 3% to 5% in the mining sector as a result of a follow up to a recommendation made in one of the numerous EITI reports on mining,” Mr. Ashiadey pointed out. RECOMMENDATION The oil and gas aggregated report recommends the harmonization of the provisions in the Petroleum Income Tax Law and the Internal Revenue Act, Act 2000. It is recommended that tax losses are carried forward for five years in the petroleum industry as pertains in the mining industry. The practice of carrying forward capital allowances indefinitely in the mining sector may also be extended to the petroleum industry. It further recommends that legislation similar to the amendment on ring fencing in the mining sector should be introduced in the petroleum industry to production areas. As many fields commence production ring fencing legislation is needed to ensure early corporate tax receipts. This however should be viewed against the need to obtain more geological data from Greenfields. PIAC REPORT VERSUS EITI REPORT One outstanding feature in reports issued by both the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) in its semi-annual report and the EITI’s first ever oil and gas aggregated report is that the provisions of Act 815 on allocation of petroleum revenues have not been strictly followed. However, the basic difference between the Public Interest Accountability Committee report and the EITI report is that the PIAC report is one sided. It focuses only on what has been paid and received but does not reconcile the two. But with the EITI there is an independent third party who collects the data independently and reconciles them. Some times during the reconciling process it is discovered that what companies have reported paid is different from what government has reported received. When this discrepancies happens the reconciler calls for an investigation audit. For instance, the oil and gas aggregated report discloses that there were discrepancies in payment and receipt of surface rentals in 2010 and 2011. In 2010 a discrepancy of US$6,028 was recorded, whilst an amount of US$465.63 was established in 2011. A PIAC report looks at how institutions that have been mandated to implement the Revenue Management Act are performing their duties. The utilization process is also very key in a PIAC report to show how oil revenue is being disbursed. Though the EITI report tries to go a little bit into the utilization aspect, it is not what the report seeks to do. The EITI report seeks to check whether there has been some corruption. EITI reports deals with only audited accounts both from government agencies and companies, whiles a PIAC report may not necessary do so.

Ghana’s Local Content Policy: Still a Burning Issue

2013-04-15T10:43:00.001-07:00

“The era when all positions in various [oil and gas] companies were filled by expatriates in Ghana is over,” said Dr Juliet Twumasi-Anokye, Legal Advisor at the Petroleum Commission. This strong statement sums up the kind of confidence authorities in Ghana, especially the Petroleum Commission, have about the prospects of the implementation of local content and local participation in the oil and gas industry in the country. According to the Petroleum Commission, which is currently charged with the responsibility to promote local content and local participation in petroleum activities as prescribed in the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act 1984, PNDC Law 84, “Now jobs and vacancies which we consider there are skills in abundance in Ghana that can fill these position the Commission will ensure that work permit are not granted for those positions. The Commission will ensure that Ghanaians are actually recruited for those positions where the skills are currently widely available in Ghana.” The Petroleum Commission was established by article 821 in 2011 and is currently the regulator and manager of Ghana’s petroleum resources, a role they took from the Minister of Energy who hitherto regulates the sector with the assistance of the GNPC. Local content in the oil industry in Ghana refers to the use of Ghanaian human resource, materials, goods and services for the systematic development of national capacity and capability for the enhancement of the Ghanaian economy. In other words, it is the quantum of locally produce materials, personnel, financing, goods and services rendered to the industry which can be measured in monetary terms. The policy is to give first consideration to Ghanaian independent operators in the award of oil blocks, oil field licenses, oil lifting licenses and in all projects for which contract is to be awarded in the Ghanaian oil and gas industry. An important feature of this policy stipulates that, where bids are being evaluated, and where bids are otherwise equal, the bid containing the highest level of Ghanaian content shall be selected. Such a provision sounds great for local Ghanaian operators and businesses and will in effect place Ghanaians at the forefront of the nation’s oil business in a relatively shorter period. In the case of non-Ghanaian ownership and operations, the entity must provide for the participation of a citizen of Ghana in an interest of at least five percent in the exploration and production activities under petroleum licenses. Another important feature of the policy is that a fund, Oil and Gas Business Development and Local Content Fund, is to be established to support local capability development aspects of the local content framework. The fund will be used primarily for education, training and research and development in oil and gas. Sources of the fund will include contribution from Licensed Operators, Oil and Gas Revenue, levies, grants and other support from Ghana’s Development Partners. The Ministry of Energy or the Ministry responsible for petroleum will oversee the disbursement of the fund. This is undoubtedly fitting for a developing nation like Ghana but it remains to be seen how effective the administration of this fund will be. In general, the move by government is expected to obligate operators to attach significant importance to local content and to ensure that as much benefits as possible are retained in the local economy by indigenes. Currently, provisions for legislative support for local content in Ghana, backing up the government’s vision in the oil and gas industry is primarily found in the PNDC Law 84, ordinary referred to as the E and P Law, which is the legal basis for all petroleum agreements in Ghana. However, recognizing the importance of the local content and local participation, available development and the rapid acceleration of the development of the national economy as a whole, government consider it to be crucial to enact a specific legislation to address local content and local participation issues. This Legislative Instrument (LI) was laid before parliament last year by the then Deputy Energy Minister and now Minister, Hon Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, but could not be passed because parliament went on recess from October 31, 2012 to enable members prepare for the Presidential and Parliamentary polls in December. According to the Clerk of parliament, the LI has to be laid again before parliament can act on it. The LI when passed into law will be known as the Petroleum Local Content and Local Participation in Petroleum Activities Framework. This is expected to be enacted shortly. The purpose of the legislative instrument is the development of local content and local participation in all petroleum activities and it will require the submission of a Ghanaian content plan and related sub plans of licensees, contractors and sub contractors with respect to the provision of goods and services, technology transfer to Ghanaians, recruitment and training programs. The Local Content Committee established by the Commission is expected to play a crucial role in this regard. The Committee will assist the Commission in supervision, coordination, administration, monitoring, management and development of local content and local participation in the oil and gas industry. “For example, it is government’s expectation that within 10 years from the commencement of a specific project the level of local content target will reach a minimum of 90 percent for such suppliers and services identified by the Local Content Committee and approved by the Petroleum Commission as being priority to Ghana. For all other supplies and services the Commission will set appropriate target levels of local content,” Dr Twumasi-Anokye disclosed. The Commission is already making an impact in the sector, for instance, in order to enhance more effective regime, as a regulator of the sector, on May 1, 2012, the Commission took over the registration of companies providing services in the upstream petroleum sector as one of the means by which the Commission will promote local content and local participation. The Commission after having taken over the registration has now introduced a more streamlined regime based on companies classification on the basis of business turn over, the difference fee level, which recognize whether the company is a Ghanaian or foreign company, registering for the first time or renewing its registration. This enables the Commission to monitor petroleum activities and carry out the necessary inspection and audit related to the activity. Furthermore, it provides information about the local and indigenous Ghanaian companies as well as foreign companies operating in the petroleum upstream sector. “The information gathered by the Commission will assist us in developing what we call a common qualification system, which will enable the Commission develop a prequalification system that will enable all local service providers who are registered with the Commission participate in tendering and procurement exercises,” she added. For companies that are unable to take major contract, it is the Commission’s policy to encourage these companies to sub contract to Ghanaian companies or go into joint ventures to help develop capacity within Ghanaian industry. Since it is obligatory for companies working in the industry to incorporate local content in every aspect of the petroleum value chain, operators and relevant parties engaged in petroleum activities in the upstream sector must recruit Ghanaians, award contracts, and procurement, goods and services from local companies, ensure technology transfer when necessary and also build capacity. In this respect companies are required to submit to the Commission their annual local content plan which must incorporate employment and training programs that shows the employment needs of the company, and training plans for existing and new staff in succession planning. “To ensure we strictly enforced our role as the interface between government and industry, the Commission has streamlined the application process for work permit for the petroleum upstream sector. Currently, all work permit application must now be routed through the Petroleum Commission, which conduct an initial screening process to ensure applications comply with all immigration requirements and also upholds with our local content requirement. In line with government local content policy framework for the sector, the Commission is eager to promote ancillary industries for the sustenance of the economic development. In order to achieve this, operators, contractors and sub contractors are required to transact financial business with local financial institutions in Ghana and also encourage using the services of local legal firms, insuring and reinsuring with Ghanaian insurance companies in the country. By doing this we anticipate that in-country spending will increase thus contributing substantially to economic growth,” Dr Twumasi-Anokye emphasized. However, the Commission acknowledges some of the inherent limitations and challenges facing indigenous industries. “We are aware that there are financial challenges to our local industries in terms of capitalization, the human resource challenges, as well as the research and technology challenges. And these all makes it difficult for any of our indigenous companies to effectively participate in the upstream sector as we want them to do,” she pointed out. The Commission is therefore collaborating with relevant government agencies and international oil companies operating in the country to improve the capability and competitiveness of domestic businesses. So far the establishing of an Enterprise Development Centre and the refurbishment of the Tema Dry Docks are a few of the projects aimed at bridging the gap that has been identified. INDUSTRY RESPONSE TO LOCAL CONTENT According Tullow Ghana, the lead partner in the Jubilee Oil field, local content is the term given to the company’s commitment to generate in country capability to support the long-term development of the emerging sector. It represents the opportunity to maximise the use of Ghanaian goods and services, promote real and effective partnerships. It also benefits local business and communities through, local business development (goods and services), local employment (re-skilling, job development, redeployment), and sustainable local economic development. The company cited some of their success up to date as including the setting up of a local content development department, finalised procedures for maximising use of Ghanaian suppliers in procurement process, pre-tender meetings with Ghanaian suppliers to prepare them for major upcoming tenders, organising workshops with the company’s major foreign contractors to encourage local spend and local employment, and In 2010 Tullow Ghana Limited awarded 1035 contracts to Ghanaian companies totalling US$ 194 million. Tullow Ghana said its Social Enterprise Investments entails bbuilding capacity for the oil and gas industry and associated sectors, encouraging economic diversification to avoid over reliance on oil and gas, contributing to a positive operating environment and putting in place social enterprise guidelines in place for community projects – helping to align investments with business objectives. Zeal Environmental Technologies Limited (ZETL) is one of the biggest indigenous Ghanaian Oil and Gas Waste Management companies that provide services to the oil industry in Ghana. Zeal started working with Tullow in 2008. Pergah Transport Limited is a major Ghanian transport company offering corporate and social bus services, vehicle rentals as well as fleet, driver and vehicle management services. Pergah started working with Tullow Ghana Limited in 2009 and provide fleet and driver management, as well as vehicle hiring services. Consolidated Shipping Agency Limited (Conship) is a leading Ghanaian logistics company with offices in Tema, Accra and Takoradi. The company started working with Tullow in February 2010, supporting Tullow’s imports and exports for the Jubilee project. Macro Group is a Ghanaian company that offers a portfolio of services including shipping, logistics and trucking. The company started life as Macro Shipping in 2005, and has grown by recognizing further opportunities in the emerging oil and gas industry and adding additional services including Macro Logistics and Macro Trucking. For local players and indigenous businesses, government’s initiative on local content is a welcome respite. “I am very confidence about the local content and participation policy framework. But it is not just about the words, it is about the actions behind the words,” said Christopher Andoh, Managing Director of Star Africa, an indigenous company in the oil and gas industry. He said despite all the noise being made about local content, the fine words and nice legislative policies, real opportunities have to be created for indigenous businesses to participate in the sector. He called for some financial support to be extended to local businesses to participate in the industry. Mr. Andoh complained about the huge license fee being charged by the Petroleum Commission describing it as a disincentive to local players. Agreeing with him on the need for a fund to support the local industry, Mr Ernest Addea, a trained Sub Sea Engineer and an entrepreneur, emphasized the need to train more Ghanaian engineers, local staff, local management experts and local lawyers. “If we say the oil and gas should benefit Ghanaians, then Ghanaians should spearhead oil and gas development and take charge of the industry. Government needs to provide tax holidays to SME’s operating in the industry in Ghana,” he added. He further proposed collaboration and cohabitation to bridge the lack of human resource and technology gap.