Oil Blocks Dish Out To Retail Companies -ACEP

By Mohammed Awal
awalm19@gmail.com

THE AFRICA Centre for Energy policy (ACEP), a policy and economic think tank, says there is so much murkiness and corruption in the oil and gas industry, as oil blocks are dished out to petroleum retail companies.
 

According to the think tank, these petroleum retail companies, most of them from Nigeria, have no experience in the management of deep water field, yet they are the companies “we are giving oil contracts.”

The Executive Director of ACEP, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, revealed to journalists that the process of awarding Ghana’s oil blocks is fishy, thus the need for transparency along the contract value chain.

He said the contract awarding process is so corrupt and shrouded in extreme opacity and secrecy, to the extent that if Ghana does not take care, it may end up as an oil-cursed nation.

“Ghana must avoid the curse of oil, and the only way we can avoid the curse of oil is to open the process of giving out oil blocks… so that we can attract the best companies to Ghana,” cautioned Dr. Amin Adam.

He was speaking at a stakeholders’ forum on the topic: ‘Open Contracting in the Oil and Gas Industry’, organised by ACEP in Accra last Thursday. He, therefore, called for the establishment of a progressive regime that will establish an open and competitive bidding process, as the yardstick for the award of future oil contracts.

“Open contracting means transparency along the contract value chain,” he stated, as it would send a signal that attracts quality investors, warning; “The lack of it breeds corruption and investments that do not pursue the public interest.”

The Petroleum (Exploration & Production) Bill 2014, which is before Parliament waiting passage into law, attempts to address the problem associated with the application of administrative processes in petroleum licensing.

Clause 10(3) of the Bill establishes an open and competitive tender regime for the acquisition of oil blocks. But, Dr. Amin Adam notes that they, at ACEP, have serious issues with the Bill in its current format, as it contains certain exceptionally mysterious clauses that defeat the idea of transparency and accountability.

Ghana, at the moment, does not apply the open and competitive public tender process in oil concessions –what it applies is the administrative process, where oil concessions are awarded based on discretionary power.

“We are not comfortable with the current state of the bill, especially, relating to the contracting process.  “This is the first time the bill is introducing that, unfortunately there are other provisions in the bill which undermines the proposal for open and competitive bidding.

For instance, the Minister has the power to veto the outcome of an open and competitive bidding process, and to use sole-sourcing to award a contract in the oil sector,” he announced.

Whilst c.10 (3) establishes an open bidding regime, he explained, c.10 (4) gives the Minister the leisure to ignore the outcome of an open and competitive tender process, and to use direct negotiations.

The dangers associated with this process are many, he stated, warning, that the Minister may use his power to shield companies that do not want to go through competitive process, and turn back to negotiate directly with them.

Also he observed that the process may be used to expose the terms offered by competing companies to give competitive advantage to those that prefer direct negotiation.  However, the Ministry of Energy has explained that those clauses are necessary, since they may not find any of the competing companies satisfactory, in terms of the technical and financial capacity.

Tags: ACEP, Oil Blocks

Sal-Valley Tops MTN/Joy Reading Clubs Competition

By Mohammed Awal
awalm19@gmail.com

TWO STUDENTS from Sal-Valley Basic School, Kanda, in Accra, have emerged winners in both the junior and senior categories of the MTN/Joy Reading Clubs competition grand finale, held in Accra. The two are Barbara Amoako and Naima Abdul Majeed.
As part of their prize package, they both received a cheque for GH¢500 each, a weekend lodge at Beige Village and an educational trip to the Bunso Arboretum forest reserve.

The competition was contested by nine children selected from Kanda, Ablekuma, Osu and Burma camp communities, all in the Greater Accra enclave. The Executive Director of MTN Ghana Foundation, Mrs. Cynthia Lumor, said the project’s aim is to make reading both an educational and enjoyable social undertaking.

“Our ultimate hope is that participants will acquire the habit of reading for life,” she stated with optimism, as the project has so far impacted about 500 school children. She, therefore, admonished the school children to make reading a habit, as it opens their imaginative acumen, while enhancing their creativity.

The MTN/Joy Reading Club is an initiative established to provide interventions that encourage children between the ages of eight and 14 to read, and to enjoy the art of reading.

The competition
Nine contestants were drawn from four communities in the Greater Accra Region, namely, Ablekuma, Osu and Burma Camp, for this year’s MTN/Joy Reading Club competition grand finale held at the Y’Ello Tavern, Ridge Towers, in Accra, last Friday.

There were two categories to be contested – junior and senior. At the end of the junior section of the competition, Naima Abdul Majeed from Sal-Valley School, Kanda, was pronounced the winner, raking 101 points. Andy Osei of Oak Ridge school in Ablekuma-Agape came second with 89 points.

The senior department of the competition saw Barbara Amoako, also from Sal-Valley School, beat Nancy Dadzoe of Airforce School to the ultimate. She raked 98 points to Nancy’s 92.5. As a result, Sal-Valley emerged the overall winners of the season two edition of the MTN/Joy Reading Clubs competition.

Guidelines for the competition required that contestants read a passage, identify a photograph, and spell words chosen from the story books. They were also assessed for their diction, pronunciation, body language and punctuation.

Presidency Is 2nd Most Corrupt…Says IEA

by Mohammed Awal

THE INSTITUTE of Economic Affairs (IEA), a policy and economic think tank says The Ghana Police Service (GPS) and the Office of the President are the most corrupt institutions in Ghana.  The indictment is contained in a public perception survey it conducted last year and released at a news conference in Accra yesterday.

The Police Service is yet to officially react to the report. The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, DCOP Nathan Kofi Boakye, however, told TV3 during a recent interview that the police are always in the news when it comes to corruption because of their regularly contact with the public.

He noted that other institutions in the country may be worst offenders, but because they do not have direct interaction with the public, they are always left off the hook. He also noted that corruption does not involve the exchange of money alone and that if one abuses his or her office, that is also corruption.

He noted that if those who have been conducting the corruption perception survey should focus on this aspect of bribery, they would notice that the police would not always be leading the pack. The government on its part has issued a statement daring the IEA to provide proof that the presidency is the second most corrupt institution in Ghana. The full statement from the presidency is published on page 3 of this newspaper.

According to the IEA survey, out of a sample size of 1200 households, 23 percent of the people were of the view that “nearly all police officials are corrupt.”

The office of the president followed closely with 19 percent, tax officials –15% percent and Members of Parliament –15%  Others are government officials –13.9 percent, District Chief Executives –13.3 percent, judges/magistrate –13.1 percent, assemblymen/women, the Immigration Service and the Army –11.9, 10.4 and 7.0 percent respectively.

Dr. Ransford Gyampo, a Research Fellow of the Governance Unit of the IEA, presenting the results of the survey on governance said the most governance challenges confronting the country was the “high prevalence of bribery and corruption.”

Whilst countries such as Botswana, Cape Verde, Lesotho, Namibia and war ravaged Rwanda had taken proactive steps in minimizing corruption, that of Ghana continues to plummet,” stated Dr. Gyampo, adding “the survey results clearly point to its severity."

“The purpose of the survey is to solicit and provide information on Ghana’s perceptions on a whole range of subjects, including economic and living conditions, public safety and security, media freedom and abuse, discrimination and relations between ethnic groups, factors which influence elections, trust in institutions, important problems confronting the country, government performance, corruption, bribery and access to public services,” he said.

Ghana in 2013 and 2014 was ranked 63rd and 61st out 177 and 175 countries respectively by the Transparency International and the Corruption Perception Index.  The survey was conducted in all the ten regions of the country with respondents said to be 18 years and above.

Waning trust
The results of the survey also indicate that the public has little confidence in some state institutions especially the tax department.

“The image of the tax department left much to be desired,” Dr. Gyampo noted, as out of the eleven institutions studied, 34.4 percent of the people said they did not trust the Tax Department.

The Electoral Commission (EC) followed closely, recording 35.8 percent, the ruling party –NDC (35.6%), the Police (35.1%) the Metro/Municipal/District Assemblies, the Office of the President and Parliament recording 33.9, 33.8 and 33.1 percent respectively, he added, explaining that this was as a result of their failure to deliver on their respective mandates.

Government Performance
Broadly speaking, about 40% of Ghanaians per the survey thought the economy as a whole is the major problem confronting the country.  Apart from the governance, the survey also focused on the socio-economic conditions of the respondents.  On living conditions –majority of the respondents (63.3%) regard their current living conditions to be bad, with 25.2% indicating theirs are good.