ON Wednesday, November 17, 2010, the chiefs and people of the Western Region petitioned Parliament to cede 10 per cent of Ghana’s petroleum revenue to a Western Regional Development Fund to be established under the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill.
That, according to them, was for the purpose of developing the region.
In addition, they called for the establishment of a special fund to take care of any disaster that might occur during the exploration and production of the oil and gas in the area.
After the presentation of the petition by the President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs, Awulae Atibrukusu, the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho, referred it to the Joint Committee on Finance and Mines and Energy for consideration.
The committee, in its deliberation, acknowledged that the region was endowed with many resources which had been used to support the development of the country over the years.
It also acknowledged that the Western Region had suffered under-development over the years, despite its numerous natural resources, and stated that it was important that the government come up with special interventions to expedite the development of the region.
However, for one reason or another, the committee stated that ceding 10 per cent of petroleum revenue to a fund for the region might defeat the primary objective of the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill, which is to avoid “the ring-fencing of petroleum revenues”.
We believe that the issues raised by the chiefs and people of the Western Region were pertinent and the House should have taken more time to go into them because the exploitation and control of oil have become some of the contentious intractable issues in some countries, as is happening in the Niger Delta in Nigeria.
Really, the chiefs have the right to make some demands because as custodians of the assets and heritage of the people, they have the duty to protect and promote the interest, aspirations and welfare of the people, including enhancing their standard of living.
The region is one of the poverty-endemic areas in the country and even in sections of the capital, Sekondi-Takoradi, one can see abject poverty.
The Takoradi Harbour, the Ghana Railway Company offices and workshop, known popularly as Location, and other allied companies which in the past offered employment to the people are not as vibrant as they used to be.
If, for the reasons assigned by the committee, the petition of the chiefs and people of the Western Region are to be rejected, then we call on the government to set up an institution similar to the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) for the Western Region to serve as a vehicle for the accelerated development of the region.
Another way out, as we said some time ago, is for the government to increase resource allocation for the purpose of building more economic and social infrastructure in the Western Region and also help empower those with employable skills in the oil sector to be absorbed into the oil industry.
We should not lose sight of what is happening in the Niger Delta where, as a result of neglect and the destruction of the environment resulting from oil exploration, the people are waging an armed struggle to have a stake in that industry.
The demand for 10 per cent of oil revenue by the chiefs and people of the Western Region is coming at a time when Ghana’s oil is yet to hit the international market to accrue revenue for the nation, for which reason the demand can be nothing more than an act of desperation arising out of what the chiefs and people see as the marginalisation of the region in the past.
We, therefore, appeal to the government to give the chiefs and people of the Western Region an ear.
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