The assurance by the Managing Director of Tullow Oil Ghana that the country has the capability to satisfy its domestic gas needs to guarantee its energy security and accelerate national development is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that the Managing Director of Tullow Oil Ghana, Mr Wissam Al-Monthiry, has said the country has the capability to satisfy its domestic gas needs to guarantee its energy security and accelerate national development.
With the current global trend of threats and insecurity, occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic and other developments, he said energy security should be the subject for Ghana and other nations
He said the pandemic had shown the country the importance of localisation of the supply chain and the need to develop that space for the benefit of all resource-rich nations to be in control.
“As we continue to live in global space, one thing that needs to be improved upon is for resource rich nations to as much as possible be in charge of their own destiny and future to ensure they derive the full benefit,” he said.
Mr Al-Monthiry was speaking to the Graphic Business after the commissioning of four security vessels of which Tullow Ghana has signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding with the Ghana Navy to provide security services at the Jubilee and TEN oil fields.
The vessels, which have been acquired for the Ghana Navy with funding from the GCB Bank, will provide asset protection for the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as well as the TEN and Jubilee offshore installations.
Tullow Ghana, its partners under the arrangement, will provide a total of $23.5million under the five-year contract period, which commenced in January, this year to December 31, 2026.
Mr Al-Monthiry said for Ghana and other oil nations to be in control of their own future energy needs and ensure security – the domestic production of oil and most importantly natural gas must be a priority.
The newspaper says that Covid-19 National Trust Fund received about GH¢60 million in cash donations between April 2020 and December 31, 2021 to combat the pandemic, the administrator of the Fund, Dr William Collins Asare, has revealed.
So far, he said, GH¢50 million of the donations had been disbursed to deal with the pandemic.
In addition, donations received in kind, including vehicles, fuel coupons and non-perishable food items, amounted to about GH¢10.7 million, he said.
Dr Asare made this known at a public forum on the accountability gap in the COVID-19 responses of Ghana in Accra last Tuesday.
It was jointly organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) and the Economic Governance Platform.
The forum, attended by representatives of development partners and civil society organisations (CSOs), afforded the participants the opportunity to examine the findings of a research on bridging COVID-19 accountability gaps.
Giving details, Dr Asare said funds were transferred to 23 public and private institutions, including schools, for sensitisation, as well as the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE).
There were also laboratory supplies, the provision of oxygen plants, among other items, to some health facilities, while funds were given to the Ebeye Yie Foundation for the training of hearing-impaired persons.
The Graphic also reports that the government has called on political actors to feel free to differ in opinion on national policies.
It has, however, underscored the need for people to be circumspect and refrain from issues that have the tendency to undermine the country’s burgeoning democracy.
The caution was contained in a statement issued by the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, in response to comments by the Dean of the University of Ghana Law School, Professor Raymond Atuguba.
He said while the government had no problem with people expressing divergent views on policies and national developments, it abhorred attempts by some Ghanaians to lace their commentary with anti-democratic comments and insinuations that undermined the country’s democracy.
“Comments to the effect that some conditions are rife for a coup are most unfortunate and disappointing. They are disappointed because, despite COVID-19, Ghana’s current economic status is far better than the days of yesteryear when there was no global pandemic.
“Even if they were worse, the Constitution provides legitimate means for advocating and executing a change. For respected persons to be purporting that such conditions legitimise coups is a terrible attack on our democracy itself and should not be condoned,” the minister said.
At a forum on the review of the 1992 Constitution last Monday, Prof. Atuguba, among other things, said that the challenges confronting the economy and its attendant hardship on Ghanaians could create fertile grounds for a coup.
Prof. Atuguba said the country’s debt had moved into deeper distress, nearing a debt crunch.
GIK/APA