Maritime workers oppose Lonrho’s free port
The Maritime and Dockworkers Union has vowed to fight a commercial agreement between the government of Ghana and London-based firm, Lonrho Ports Limited, for the development of a free port at Atuabo in the Western Region.
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The agreement, reached on August 16, 2011, and approved by Parliament in July 2014, gives Lonrho the exclusive right to provide specialised services for the oil and gas industry in Ghana.
The union has subsequently threatened legal action to oppose what it describes as a “bad project” by government considering the fact that it is only the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) that has the right to build, operate and regulate a port.
The General Secretary of the Union, Mr Daniel Owusu Koranteng, in an interview, said: “We will lobby and do advocacy, even if it means going to court we will. Some members of parliament went to court on the same issue, but we are doing a comprehensive work because it is a bad project.”
The PNDC Act 160 of 1986 gives GPHA the sole right to plan, build, operate and regulate ports in the country. Subsequently, government has acquired a loan of €197 million for the GPHA to construct an oil and gas terminal as part of the Takoradi port expansion.
“In the contract that has been ratified by the parliament of Ghana, they have put in an exclusivity clause, that it is only Lonrho that should provide service to oil and gas companies. The Takoradi Port has oil and gas terminal, so what they are trying to do is to tie the hands of the GPHA,” he explained.
Circumventing the law
Mr Koranteng explained that in a bid to circumvent the law, the port that would be constructed by Lonrho would be classified as a free one.
“To circumvent the law they have made it a free port. A free port is custom arrangement so you cannot say that you are building a free port just to go round Act 160,” he explained.
This means that Lonrho Ports would be operating in the Tax Free Zone, implying that all goods and services entering the port will be deemed to not have entered Ghana and therefore will not attract tax as currently prevails in the existing ports.
Concerns of the Union
All ports in the country are classified as security zones; hence handing over the port to a foreign company undermines national security.
“Our major concern is that national security will be undermined. The company will be responsible for the security office facilities and here is the case we are fighting drugs and the rest. What we are saying is the national sovereign is supreme and should be protected,” he said.
Mr Koranteng also explained that some people had argued that the agreement would create about 3000 jobs for the people of Ghana.
“If something is against national security, how can it create jobs? They are looking at about 3000 jobs but you cannot shortchange national security for jobs,” he explained.
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