Ghana TV News, 23.07.2010 | | | | News - 23.07.2010 Kosmos/ExxonMobil Deal Cracks Government Apart * Soure: The Talk | …Martey Newman, Kofi Annan, Ishmael Yamson, Cadman Mills join Kosmos lobbying team?
Ghana's president, Prof. John Atta Mills, after a marathon meeting with all interested parties in the castle has requested ExxonMobil to submit a proposal of its interest to buy the shares of Kosmos energy in Ghana's jubilee fileds. The sudden change in the government's stance is seen as a significant softening of the Government's position; after it had insisted Kosmos' attempt to sell its shares directly to ExxonMobil will not be entertained by the government.
The previous position had been that any sale of share to a third party will be considered only after Ghana National Petroleum Company had acquired the Kosmos shares in the Jubilee fields at fair market value.
Authoritative sources within government revealed to The Talk that President Mills is close to allowing the Kosmos impunity to hold sway over national interest and laid down procedure, while GNPC on the other hand would like to stick to the law.
This situation could be as a result of pressure upon government from Kosmos and the powerful lobbying team they are said to have assembled, coupled with pressure from western powers forcing government to go ahead and give its blessing to the ExxonMobil deal.
This change in government position is rumoured to be the work of some key Ghanaian personalities including Kofi Annan, former UN secretary General, Ishmael Yamson, former chairman of Unilever, and some members of the Mills government including, Henry Martey Newman, Chief of Staff and Cadman Mills the brother of the President, were part of Kosmos' lobbying team.
The current position, apart from its apparent lack of national interest, also signals cracks in government front in terms of their dealing with the Kosmos impunity. While the presidency seems to be developing a soft spot for f Kosmos , the Ghana National Petroleum Company(GNPC) sees Ghana's acquisition of the share of strategic national interest and claims they would not yield to Kosmos bullying tactics.
It will be remembered that the US embassy denied Mr. Atto Ahwoi, the chairman of the board of GNPC, a visa to travel to the United States. The perception was that the denial was linked to his opposition to Kosmos offloading its shares directly to ExxonMobil.
The president's directive to ExxonMobil in itself is problematic because in the first place ExxonMobil is not buying anything from government.
What they seek to buy are the shares of Kosmos, and so for the president to be asking for a proposal for those shares cannot be supported by any legal means. “You cannot give what you don't have,” is the way lawyers put it.
It was based on this assertion that Kosmos could behave the way they were behaving, and this directive by the president seems to have played into the hands of Kosmos.
GNPC's position is that Kosmos broke Ghana's law by selling Ghana petroleum data. They make references to the Petroleum exploration and production law, PNDC Law 84,section 8 which states that “ A petroleum agreement entered into under this Law shall not directly or indirectly be assigned in whole or in part , by the holder of such agreement to another person without the prior consent in writing of the secretary.”
Meanwhile the Corporate Affairs Director of the Ministry of Energy, Edward Bawa has told this paper that publications in sections of the media that GNPC was not interested in buying the Kosmos shares was a complete lie.
According to him, he had listened to the full text of the Deputy Minister. Hon. Inussah Fusseini's presentation on radio which the papers were quoting from and there was nothing in the statement to suggest what the newspapers were alluding to. “GNPC position has not changed,” he declared.
Article 23(16) of PNDC Law 23 also states that,” A contractor or sub-contractor shall not transfer any share or shares in its incorporated company in Ghana to a third party either directly or indirectly without the written approval of the secretary if the effect of such transfer would be either to give such third party control of such company or to enable such third party take over the interests of a shareholder who owns five percent or more of the shares in such company.”
The last statement by the Minister of Energy on the issue indicated that the government will not discuss Kosmos' attempt to sell its share until the data issue is resolved. Authoritative sources in the US indicate that both Kosmos and the Ghana government are “being cagy” about what is going on between them.
The most worrying part of this current development is the records of government on similar issues which clearly provide a guide as to what the outcome of this latest directive of President Mills is likely going to be.
In the Vodafone issue, where government set up a committee to review the sale, government came out to rubbish the work of the committee, and promised Ghanaians it was going to re-engage Vodafone.
| Ghana is collapsing - Nana Addo * Source: Daily Guide | The 2008 presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and a leading contender in the party’s flagbearership race, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, believes Professor John Evans Atta Mills and his National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration have mismanaged Ghanaian economy to the extent that it is heading for collapse.
He, therefore, charged Ghanaians to show them the exit, come December 2012, since according to him, the NDC as a party and a government does not have the slightest idea about how to manage and run a country.
Addressing party delegates at the Tip Toe Lane in Accra on Wednesday, as part of his campaign in the Ayawaso Central Constituency, Nana Addo said “The NPP must come back in 2012 to inject fresh energy into the Ghanaian economy, which is now crawling under the Mills administration; and this will surely happen if we elect the most popular and experienced candidate to lead the party into that fight.”
For this reason, he tasked delegates who would be voting in the forthcoming party primary to work harder after the NPP congress to help the party win the votes of majority of Ghanaians in the 2012 elections.
Over the years, Nana Addo noted, the NDC as a party has not proven straightforward in their ways, and for that matter it would be important for the NPP to strengthen its grassroots to ensure victory is not stolen from them in the coming elections.
He was optimistic that when presented as the presidential candidate of the NPP again, the party would recapture power.
“I am confident that by the grace of God and with unity within our ranks, if you elect me as flag-bearer into the 2012 general elections, victory will come our way as a party,” he intimated.
With him were Sheik I.C Quaye, MP for Ayawaso Central; Prof. Mike Oquaye, MP for Dome Kwabenya and Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament; Madam Frema Akosua Osei-Opare, MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon; Shirley Ayokor Botchway, MP for Weija; Elizabeth Sackey, MP for Okaikoi North; Alhaji M.N.D. Jawula, former chief Director at the Ministry of Health; and Lord Commey, the immediate past National Organiser of the NPP, as well as his ‘Victory 2012’ campaign team.
“Put your ears down and choose a candidate whom the majority of Ghanaians are calling for to lead our great party once again in the upcoming election and vote him as flag-bearer of our party, so that our work in 2012 would be easier,” Nana encouraged.
He stressed the need for unity in the NPP, advising delegates and supporters of the party to rally behind any candidate who emerges flagbearer, since he believes the NPP is larger than any individual seeking to lead the party.
To this end, he indicated that the results of the upcoming NPP flagbearership contest on August 7, “would determine the fate of our dear nation in the upcoming years”, believing that a successful primary by the party, with the most experienced and popular candidate elected as flagbearer, would increase the party’s chances and promote unity for it to wrestle power from the ruling NDC.
Later at the Apostolic Church in Nima, where Nana Akufo-Addo and his team met with delegates of the Ayawaso East Constituency, there was near-stampede due to the fact that the majority of residents consider him one of their own - a ‘Nima Boy’.
Hundreds of party faithfuls clad in NPP colours and dozens on motorbikes escorted him as he walked from Nima Roundabout through to the Apostolic Church where he and his team met with the delegates. | | |
_____________________________________________________ ----- | - Kosmos/ExxonMobil Deal Cracks Government Apart - Ghana is collapsing - Nana Addo - NPP Office Turns Into A Boxing Ring - Create a common market for farmers in Northern Ghana | _________________________________ | NPP Office Turns Into A Boxing Ring * Source: PeaceFM | With barely a month to the election of its flagbearer for the 2012 General Elections, there seems to be palpable tension within the camp of the various presidential aspirants of the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The nerves of some followers of these aspirants have also been stretched taut, sometimes leading to petty squabbling at the least provocation.
Reports reaching peacefmonline say, Aremeyaw Yaw, an agent of Alan Kyeremanten has subjected the Asante-Akyim South Constituency Women’s Organizer to some severe beatings in the course of a disagreement. The incident is said to have occurred at about 10:30am today.
Comfort Asamoah, the NPP Women’s Organiser who confirmed the incident during PeaceFM News@6pm said that Aremeyaw Yaw, came to the party’s office at Juaso and inquired about where the voting will be taking place.
“I informed him that we have been asked not to vote at a public place, so we will be voting at Bompata. He immediately said he is not in favour of the venue. I then told him that he should wait for the Chairman to explain things to him. He didn’t understand but rather started beating me up to the extent that I was admitted at the hospital,” she lamented.
According to her, and has reported been reported to the police and the party executives in the constituency. | Create a common market for farmers in Northern Ghana * Source: GNA | Tamale, July 23, GNA - Participants, at a seminar on the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority, (SADA) have advocated the creation of a common market for farmers in Northern Ghana to ensure ready market for their produce.
They expressed concern that the anticipated rise in the production of food stuffs due to the implementation of the SADA may lead to a glut on the market if a ready market was not created for the sale of their produce.
The participants also called for capacity building and training on processing of farm produce as well as the adequate training of farmers in the packaging and the preservation of their farm products for a better market.
The participants, who were made up of a network of Community Based Organisations, (CBOs) and the School for Life (SFl) and Satellite Youth Centre committees made these suggestions at an advocacy seminar organised by the Empowerment for Life (E4L), on Friday.
It was under the auspices of the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) in Tamale.
They further called for the creation of more agro-processing industries in Northern Ghana while government with access roads to the farming communities to facilitate the carting of foodstuffs from the rural areas to the urban centers.
Madam Mariam Adam, the GDCA/LOM Gender Field Officer, who gave a presentation on SADA, said although the objectives of the programme were laudable, if there was no be peace in the three northern regions its implementation would not yield any meaningful results and the people would continue to lag behind in development.
She also stressed the need for CBOs and other Civil Society Organisations to be in the forefront of educating the people on the need for peace to ensure that the SADA succeeded. | Your Opinions | Have Your Say!
| Archived News for 2010 | News Page was last modified on Monday, 26 July 2010 09:35:19 | 
| All about the Ghana Election 2008 |
|