KOSMOS OIL: WHO WILL PAY TO CLEAN UP OIL SPILLAGES OFF GHANA’S COASTLINE & ON THE NATION’S BEACHES?

The unwelcome sight of oil on the beaches of part of the coastline along the Western Region of Ghana, shows the real cost to the nation, of drilling for oil in the waters off our shores: if the players in our oil and gas industry are allowed to get away with being environmentally irresponsible, and cutting corners in order to save on their operating-costs. It is crucial that they are made to understand clearly that they will pay for the full cost of the clean-up of all such spillages, and the restoration of the natural environment to its original state, as well as pay full compensation to all those whose businesses are impacted negatively by such disasters – by putting in place the necessary legislation to guarantee just such an outcome. America’s example in dealing with BP must be our guide. We must not allow the crime against humanity that the pollution of the Niger Delta (caused by the oil companies operating in Nigeria!) represents, to be repeated here under any circumstances. Perhaps the question we must pose those currently in charge of our nation is: When will they put in place the necessary legislation that will enable our country ask for the same kinds of reliefs that President Obama’s administration demanded from BP when the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spillage occurred? The secrecy surrounding the actual amount of the fine imposed on Kosmos Oil for the spillages it has caused thus far is totally unnecessary and certainly does not inspire confidence – and is an outrage and an affront to ordinary Ghanaians.


In dealing with Kosmos Oil in this particular matter, those now in charge of Ghana must not repeat the same mistake President Kufuor made, when he reduced a fine imposed by the regulators, the National Communications Authority (NCA), on Western Communications Limited (WESTEL). Do our leaders think that Kosmos Oil would ever agree to take less of the profits it is entitled to, under the ridiculous agreement that allows it to operate off our shores – if we asked them to do so: to ensure that more money would be made available to Ghana for the very important task of transforming Ghanaian society into an African equivalent of the egalitarian societies of Scandinavia? Whiles the authorities insist that Kosmos Oil plays by the rules, in the matter of the purported sale of its stake in the Jubilee oilfield to ExxonMobil, they must also concentrate on putting in place a legal regime that will enable Ghana demand that sums of up to even as much as some US$20 billions is put into an escrow account, if ever a disaster on the scale of the Gulf of Mexico oil spillage, were to occur here too. If the Kosmos Oils of this world play hardball when it suits them in disputes with our country, we must also ensure that our nation is never put in a position in which whiles oil companies operating here gladly take their profits, Ghana on the other hand, is left to bear the cost of oil spillages and other forms of pollution of the natural environment associated with the oil and gas industry. If we do not do so, future generations of Ghanaian will end up using any wealth created today from oil and natural gas revenues, to clean up the harm done to the natural environment by companies like Kosmos Oil. It is the sacred duty of our generation to make sure that that is never allowed to happen. A word to the wise…


Tel (powered by Tigo – the one mobile phone network in Ghana that actually works!): + 233 (0) 27 745 3109 & the not-so-hot and clueless Vodafone wireless smartfone: + 233 (0) 30 2976238