The Deputy Minister of Energy’s appeal to global business community to direct their interests to Ghana’s ambition of creating the biggest petroleum products hub in West Africa is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.
The Graphic reports that a Deputy Minister of Energy, Andrew Egyapa Mercer, has urged the global business community to direct their interests to Ghana’s ambition of creating the biggest petroleum products hub in West Africa.
He said the country had by statute launched the hub that would include the construction of three refineries with a minimum production capacity of 900,000 barrels per day; five petrochemical processing plants as well as the building of industrial and storage infrastructure.
For a start, he said, the government had secured 20,000 acres of land in the Jomoro Municipality in the Western Region for the project, saying “Ghana is open to investments in the hub.”
Mr Mercer who is also the Member of Parliament for Sekondi, made the call when he delivered the keynote address at this year’s Africa Energies Summit in London.
It was attended by key energy players investing in the African continent and decision-makers, corporate players in Africa as well as finance, legal and service supply companies, African governments and national oils corporations.
Mr Mercer noted that factors such as the central location of Ghana and access to vibrant shipping routes which provided easy access to the regional market, made the hub project very viable and that “we accordingly want investors to take a close look at this project.”
The newspaper says that Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has charged central banks in Africa to actively build up their gold reserves by purchasing traceable and sustainably produced local gold at world market prices.
“We have not had that philosophy and thinking over the years to build our gold reserves, as we just produce and share,” he said.
Therefore, he said, opportunities must be created domestically for gold to be bought locally to create a major opportunity to build up reserves.
Dr Bawumia made the call when he opened the West African Mining and Power Exhibition and Conference (WAMPEC) in Accra yesterday.
The three-day conference, which attracted members of the Diplomatic Corps, captains of the mining industry and representatives from the ECOWAS Federation of Chamber of Mines, is on the theme: “Advancing a legacy of sustainable and responsible mining through innovation and partnership.”
Dr Bawumia said Ghana had been mining gold for over a century and its gold reserves should have been larger because of the role gold reserves played in stabilising currencies and providing balance of payment support.
He said the Bank of Ghana (BoG) had already started building its gold reserves after over 50 years without buying an ounce of gold.
He, therefore, called on other African central banks in similar gold mining countries to have a clear policy towards that because it strengthened the economies of those countries, as well as their reserves.
The Graphic also reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has intervened in the public diplomatic disagreements between the British High Commissioner, Harriet Thompson, and the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Dr George Akuffo Dampare.
The IGP had disagreed with the British High Commissioner’s comment on the arrest of the convenor of the #FixTheCountry Movement, Oliver Barker-Vormawor for a motoring offence.
The IGP in a four page letter had argued that the comment by the Diplomat was in contravention with the Vienna Convention on International Diplomacy by commenting a Ghanaian internal affair.
In a statement issued Tuesday [June 1, 2022], the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration said it had noted with “concern the intense public debate that has been generated by the communication between the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the British High Commissioner in Accra.”
“In line with the general diplomatic practice of communicating with diplomatic Missions, preferably through direct engagement, the Ministry wishes to remain circumspect on its pronouncements on the matter.”
“We have therefore initiated contact with both the British High Commissioner and Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to resolve the issue at stake.”
“The Ministry wishes to underline its commitment to the strong historical bonds between Ghana and the United Kingdom, which through the years, have been deepened by, among others, the exchange of high-level visits on both sides as well as increased cooperation on trade, investments, and security.”
“We take this opportunity to reaffirm the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our two countries,” the statement added.
GIK/APA