Campaign Coordinator of Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Dr Steve Manteaw has accused oil exploration firm, Tullow of poorly executing its corporate social responsibilities in some communities in the Western Region.
He said such poor executions have left many communities worse off.
[contextly_sidebar id=”7YQ7XO7Pt0JiZ3JyhWbC9DjsDXno1at6″]Dr. Steve Manteaw was speaking at a roundtable discussion on the topic, “Ghana’s Oil and Gas Scorecard after Five Years” organized by Citi FM in collaboration with the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth.
“Tullow decided to help its immediate stakeholders the Jomoro people with water systems, boreholes but because of the manner of the approach to the execution of that project, not tapping into indigenous knowledge, most of the boreholes that were developed did not bare wholesome water. Some of them did not bare water at all. Around that same time , the world bank had a small water town project for the people of Western region but I want presume that because Jomoro had benefitted from or was in the process of benefitting from the Tullow project, they were excluded from the small town water project. So eventually the Jomoro people lost out on two fronts. They lost out on the World Bank project and they lost out on the Tullow project.
“I engaged Tullow over this issue and I was given the assurance that remedial actions are being put in place through the provision of tanker water services to the communities. This I knew was unsustainable and today as I speak my understanding is that water tanker services have ceased and so this is one of the ways in which communities intended to benefit from corporate social responsibility have not benefitted because of the way it was designed and executed.”
Dr Manteaw also accused chiefs in the Western Region of poor planning which he says has led to the low levels of revenue allocations from oil to the region.
“I will not blame the policy makers entirely for this unfortunate situation. In my view the local authorities in these areas have also failed their people. They fail to plan with oil in view…”
–
By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah