Why Every Member Of Ghana's Parliament Who Loves The Nation Must Read Solomon Kwawukume's Book - "Ghana's Oil: Towards Maximum Benefits"

In 1965 a book entitled, "Neocolonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialsm", was published by Ghana's president at the time, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. So alarmed were the Western powers by its contents that they resolved to remove President Nkrumah from power.

Their fear was that the book's contents would  undermine their interests in Africa. They therefore had to make sure that the pan-Africanist politician who  authored it  did not remain in power, to spread its race-uplifting and liberating message across the continent - and implement policies based on it in his native Ghana.

 Solomon Kwawukume's book, "Ghana's Oil and Gas Discoveries: Towards Maximum Benefits", ought to be required reading for every patriotic Ghanaian - particularly the younger generation.

In a sense,  it is just as influential in what it seeks to do, as Nkrumah's "Neocolonalism, The Last Stage of Imperialism" - open the eyes of its readers and enable them foil the greedy ambitions of those malevolent foreign interests that seek to exploit Ghana's oil and gas deposits, with very little benefit to its people.

It is amazing that 49 years after the publication of  "Neocolonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialism", our ruling elites  are still allowing our resources to be exploited for returns far less than  they are actually worth, by foreign corporations - because it benefits them personally.

A bill has just come before Ghana's Parliament - the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill, 2013 - for passage into law. If passed into law as it stands, it will allow foreign oil companies to do to Mother Ghana what the foreign gold mining companies have done to her over the years: gang-rape her.

Each member of Parliament ought to read Mr. Solomon Kwawukume's "Ghana's Oil and Gas Discoveries: Towards Maximum Benefits" before agreeing to permit what will in effect amount to giving away a total of some US$160 billions in assets belonging to the people of Ghana, to foreign oil companies.

Yet, for this bonanaza, those foreign oil companies are investing less than US$10 billions in production costs,  to exploit those selfsame  assets. Ghana's share of those US$160 billions is  a paltry US$20 billions - and, now, thanks to that inequitous bill, soon, we will also be stumping up our share of costs too: the financial equivalent of a time-bomb that will cripple our nation in the not too distant future, as sure as day follows night.

When the first Europeans came to our shores centuries ago in search of gold, our leaders at the time accepted worthless bric-a-brac in exchange for valuable gold. Members of Ghana's Parliament must not make the same mistake in 2014 - by sanctioning this wheeze to deny Ghanaians what is rightfully  theirs.

The question our members of Parliament must ponder is: if Tullow Oil was happy to sign the kind of production agreement it did with the Canadian oil company Africa Oil to exploit its Kenyan concession, why would it balk at signing a similar one with Ghana?

Food for thought for our ruling elites - who seldom do any thinking when it comes to protecting the national interest: what benefits the majority of Ghanaians at any given point in time. The citizens of Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia wouldn't live as well as they do today, if their leaders were as deliberately ignorant as our leaders have been, in utilising their oil and gas deposits, would they?

 In considering the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill, 2013, members of Ghana's Parliament ought to remember that posterity will never  forgive them for selling  Ghana short at a time of extreme national need  with their eyes fully open. If they want to be on the right side of history in this matter, let them read Solomon Kwawukume's "Ghana's Oil and Gas Discoveries: Towards Maximun Benefits".  Hmm, Ghana - eyeasem o - asem ebeba debi ankasa!