{"id":287955,"date":"2017-02-07T06:00:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-07T06:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=287955"},"modified":"2017-02-07T06:00:58","modified_gmt":"2017-02-07T06:00:58","slug":"obrempongs-oil-diary-gnpcs-relocation-the-yes-the-nos-and-my-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/02\/obrempongs-oil-diary-gnpcs-relocation-the-yes-the-nos-and-my-take\/","title":{"rendered":"Obrempong\u2019s Oil Diary: GNPC\u2019s relocation; the yes, the nos and my take"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cheers from a charged crowd echoes over the roofs in mainland Takoradi, amidst drumming and dancing. It\u2019s the final days of the 2016 campaign at the Takoradi Market Circle, and the promises are in the air. Some had already been announced, but this one seems to reignite a forgotten dream. For once, the Western Region is going to get back its fair share of the best that has come from the west for years!<\/p>\n
The Takoradi MP, Dr. Kobby Otchere Darko-Mensah, told a large crowd of NPP supporters that late afternoon that, when the NPP is voted into office, the headquarters of the Ghana National Petroleum Commission, GNPC, was going to be relocated to the Western Region.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026This will ensure that our people get some of the oil jobs to do and to give the region its fair share of the resources it produces\u2026I have always maintained that Ghana is developed like kwashiorkor where everything is centered in Accra\u2026we need to decongest Accra! GNPC will come here for all of us to get some of the jobs to do\u201d.<\/p>\n
This promise, as it was reiterated\u00a0several times on public radio and on different platforms, has been accepted\u00a0by the people of the region. However, opposing views have been registered by some institutions and Civil Society Organizations.<\/p>\n
This piece is to present the issues from both sides of the argument, and to help us understand and to engage further on either side we belong.<\/p>\n
The Relocation is a 2012 and 2016 NPP campaign promise<\/strong><\/p>\n In\u00a0page 25 of the NPP\u2019s 2012 Manifesto Highlight, it was stated there that \u201c\u2026we will make the western region the hub of the oil and gas industry by relocating the relevant agencies in the industry from Accra to the Western Region\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In the 2016 manifesto, the 2012 promise was redefined to have a bigger scope. In\u00a0page 44, under the heading Energy and Petroleum in chapter 3 of the document, the NPP said it is going to \u201cdevelop in collaboration with the private sector, Western Region into a regional oil services hub with a first class port facility, as well as positioning it as an efficient center for back-office support for the oil industry in the west African sub region, including the relocation of the headquarters of GNPC to the region\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n From the two manifesto promises, it can be seen that, the 2012 promise was a bit lighter in content in terms of the vision compared with 2016.<\/p>\n This promise has got experts in the oil and gas sector as well as concerned members of the public talking. They ask:<\/p>\n The debate<\/strong><\/p>\n [How will the relocation of GNPC give the western region its fair share of development and provide jobs?]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Dr. Emmanuel Steve Asare Manteaw, ISODEC\/GHEITI<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe chiefs and people of the region are agitating because of the sharp contrast between what the region gives to the state in terms of revenues and what the state in return gives back to the region to develop its infrastructure. But when GNPC is relocated, no new jobs will be created for the people in the region because, GNPC will leave Accra along with its staff. No new jobs! It will be better to create the petrochemical industry in the region which will have a greater potential of employing more people as a result of the many ancillary works that will come along with it. The industrial parks and the likes should be the focus. That will create jobs and develop the region.”<\/p>\n “Takoradi as I know it is congested. Large chunk of the land is taken over by mining. Others are taken by rubber and palm plantations. So there are land issues there. Finally, if you convert the Western Region into the \u201cTexas\u201d of Ghana, you will end up deepening the troubles of the people as the city will be more expensive to live in. Mind you, the industry is a specialized one so not everyone will get to work there\u201d.<\/p>\n Cadman Dadzie, Director of Projects- Sekondi Takoradi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (STCCI)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201c\u2026The blackmailing of the Western Region by our so-called experts and critics must stop! It must stop! When the chiefs in the region asked for 10 percent retention of the oil revenues for infrastructural development, you kicked against it with excuse that the oil is drilled offshore. You blackmailed them with all manner of excuses. Sadly, some sons of the region even joined the wagon. However, these same so-called experts will come back here to say the western region is deprived. You come back to say the region is lagging behind in infrastructural development! You even agree the worst also comes from the West. How do you get the problem fixed when you kick against every proposal? I hear them talk about the fact that Takoradi is already choked and that when GNPC comes here the city will be congested, but let me ask, which part of Ghana is choked and congested than Accra where GNPC is located now?”<\/p>\n “…What the government seeks to do is a basic international best practice. You can cite Aberdeen, you can cite Estravenger, the Johannesburg and all over the world. These are cities which have been built because of the resources which are found there\u2026 It is not just the social responsibility bit of developing where these resources are taken, but the business side of it\u2026 When GNPC is relocated, the hospitality industry will benefit, the real estate business will thrive, building contractors will benefit, the number of air travel between Accra and Takoradi will increase and a lot more, local contractors will get some of the contracts that GNPC gives to contractors in Accra. So what is it? It will really be of greater business sense to have GNPC in the region and we at the STCCI are all out for it. In fact, we are keenly waiting for it!\u201d<\/p>\n [Will the Petroleum Commission, Tullow, Kosmos and all other agencies in the petroleum mid and upstream sectors be asked to move to the western region?]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n It is a fact that since 2012, it has been the Member of Parliament for the Takoradi constituency Dr. Otchere Darko, who has been constantly talking about the relocation of the GNPC publicly before it became a huge topic ahead of the 2016 general elections.<\/p>\n On Saturday 11th<\/sup> July, 2015, Dr. Kobby Darko Mensah stated at a public lecture at Raybow Hotel in Takoradi that \u201cif you take the last election [2012], we were very clear in our vision to make the western region the hub for oil and gas development. What it means is that, we are going to bring GNPC to Takoradi, Petroleum Commission, and also ask all the oil companies to relocate their headquarters to the region because there is a clause like that in the 1992 constitution\u201d.<\/p>\n\n