A coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the Republic of Ghana has asked the President of the country to immediately remove the CEO of GNPC, Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah, and the Board Chairman, Freddie Blay, from office for scheming to illegally sell Ghana’s oil assets to PetroSA, the national oil company of South Africa.
According to the CSOs working on extractives, anti-corruption and good governance, the duo are threats to the nation’s oil and gas resources, saying their continuous stay in office will not mean well for the country.
The CSOs, numbering about 29, comprise African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), the Centre for Extractives and Development Africa (CEDA), the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), IMANI Centre for Policy and Education and Centre for Democratic Development.
The call by the CSOs followed the revelation in a letter by the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, that the two have planned to go ahead and sell half of the seven per cent interest Ghana acquired from Anadarko in DWT and WCTP block in 2021.
Addressing the press on Tuesday, May 23, the Coordinator for the coalition, Abdul Karim Mohammed said the continuous presence of these individuals, closely associated with petroleum operations, poses significant risks to Ghana’s interests.
Mr Mohammed explained that the Energy Minister, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, is against a decision by the Board Chairman of GNPC, Mr Blay, for offering interest in Ghana’s oil field to a South African oil company, Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA).
Mr Blay, in his capacity as the GNPC Board Chairman, is said to have written to PetroSA, offering it an equal split in the interest held by GNPC’s subsidiary, Jubilee Oil Holdings Ltd.
“It is a viable field, and it is giving us a lot of money if we allow this to go forward. What it means is that PetroSA will be entitled to 50 per cent of the earnings from the field, whereas they have not had any role in developing the field to the point where it is now viable.
“The information we have is that the Minister for Energy has objected to this transaction but the Chairman of GNPC Board is pushing this transaction to the extent that the Minister for Energy had written to the Jubilee House over this transaction.
“We demand the immediate transfer of JOHL and all its assets from the Cayman Island and other jurisdictions to GNPC,” he stated.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com