Inchoate mutterings

The world is not interested in the storms you encountered but whether or not you brought in the ship.  — Raul Armesto.

Albert Einstein encourages us to “learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning,” while Jane Goodal maintains that, “ If you really want something and really work hard and take advantage of opportunities, and never give up, you will find a way.”

Though my thoughts are not composed and are inchoate, I want our leaders to be sincere in their dealings with our people, so that we can collectively develop our society to levels comparable anywhere on the globe. That is why I agree with the statement attributed to Nana Addo-Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, that Africa can best be developed by Africans.

Since the beginning of the African Cup of Nations Football competition in Equatorial Guinea, I have asked a couple of friends where those multinational companies making huge returns on their capital and who profess as part of their corporate social responsibility to be interested in our people have gone to. Indeed, but for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, we would have lost the opportunity to follow through the competition live on our television networks.

None of them is prepared to spend money to secure broadcasting rights for the African Cup of Nations, but are ready to throw money after every imaginable sports competition in Europe to be broadcast to Ghanaians, including the European Nations football competition. Whereas some of the European sporting events could provide entertainment values to Ghanaians, the African Cup of Nations provides both entertainment and intrinsic values. 

We must not forget the saying, “It belongs to us and it belongs to me are not the same”. That is why our political leaders must pursue policies which will grow Ghanaian entrepreneurs and industrialists to generate wealth to oil the sustainable development of our country.

The great Indian patriarch, Mahatma Ghandi, has noted that, “The moment the slave resolves that he will no longer be a slave, his fetters fall. Freedom and slavery are mental states.” In our dealings with the citizens, those in leadership must be ready to present comprehensive information that will enable people to make free and informed decisions or choices. When we become selective in the information we release to the public, we deny them the freedom to choose and undermine public trust in government.

In this context, discourse on the impact of crude oil price on the economy must be approached with objective facts and openness. Our media personnel have the obligation to help our people come to terms with the realities and enable them to willingly proffer their support.

The President is reported to have factually told Ghanaians in Germany that the country will lose about USD700million due to downward price of our crude oil exports. That may be the truth, but it is only a part of the story since we also import crude and will pay less for our imports. Thus, depending on volumes of crude oil exports and imports, there may be no damage to the economy. Indeed, if the government’s policy of not reducing the prices of petroleum products to reflect global market trends persists, we will be reaping windfalls which would impact positively on the economy. 

At the last count, the story from the National Petroleum Authority was that we could pay off the indebtedness to bulk oil distribution companies by the end of this month. That is a good story which must be weighed against the losses we are incurring from falling crude oil exports.

The other untutored suggestion that I want to make is that since the price of crude oil has been the biggest factor undermining our ability to meet installed capacity in terms of power generation, unless our crude oil is not suitable, then we must stop the export and supply to the Volta River Authority to increase power generation to boost productivity. In the past, we have carried stories to the effect that the Volta River Authority (VRA) spends hundreds of millions of dollars to generate power. 

 If my views are simplistic, that is because I lay no claim to oil expertise. It can only be my opinion and every Ghanaian must be encouraged to offer their opinions on the impact of fallen crude oil prices on the economy. 

After all, as one Nigerian, Professor Claude Ake, has argued, democracy is not about development, it is not about whether people should eat well or speak their minds, it is not about whether on an election day, a voter whose child is sick should either take the child to hospital before going to vote or go to vote before taking the child to hospital, it is about who determines what one has to do and how and when to do that.