For some inexplicable reasons the NDC government has been unable or unwilling to conclude a plan of development with the oil companies which are eager to develop and produce both the associated and unassociated gas. There are indeed some companies which are prepared not only to produce that gas but to set up an integrated gas industry in the country. But under the watch of this government, these companies keep waiting while the West Africa Gas pipeline is shut down. The country is plunged into darkness while load is shed, manufacturing is on the decline and the economy stagnates.

GHANA GAS COMPANY

In a belated effort to develop our gas potential, the government has set up the Ghana Gas Company to put in place infrastructure for gas supplies for power generation and into the economy as a whole. But the establishment of this company however, is of doubtful legality. It would appear to be a private limited liability company even though it is thought to be owned publicly by the government. We ask at this stage, who are the directors of this private limited liability company? Additionally, the objectives of the corporation appear to be at odds with the law.

Sec 16(2) of the Ghana National Corporation (Petroleum Exploration and Production law 1984) provides as follows; "Any natural gas produced by a contractor in association with crude oil which is not used in petroleum operations in pursuant to subsection (1) of this section and all natural gas produced other than in association with crude oil shall be the property of the corporation... .."

This law would appear to reserve all the natural gas in our oil fields to GNPC. Indeed it is by virtue of this provision that GNPC spent over US$33 million in constructing pipelines from the oil fields to the shore. Ghana Gas however, appears to have arrogated ownership of this natural resource unto itself and there is currently an ongoing bitter battle about the ownership of same between the two state owned entities.

In a further act of illegality and opaqueness, the operations of Ghana Gas Company have been completely shrouded in secrecy. As is now well known, about US$750 million of the proposed Chinese loan facility was to be allocated to the operations of Ghana Gas Company. As things stand now, Ghanaians do not know what really is the construction cost of the gas project and how much of the Chinese loan has been made available to them. Further, what kind of financial arrangement exists between Ghana Gas and Sinopec which as we understand has been providing some other loan facilities to Ghana Gas Company and which parliament is not aware of. It is against this background that one wondered what the chief executive of the company meant when he said that the company had made about US$20million of savings in its operations budget. US$20 million of what?

Article 181(1) of the 1992 constitution of the republic stipulates that parliament by a resolution may approve any loan contracted by the government on behalf of the people of Ghana. Similarly by article 181(5) of the same constitution, parliament shall approve any international business or economic transaction entered into by government. In the recent trilogy of cases culminating in the case of Isofoton SA, the Supreme Court has explicitly explained what is required under the provisions of this particular article of the constitution. Indeed on pages 11 and 12 of the judgment of Dr Date-Bah JSC, the court specifically cited the specific agreement with Ghana Gas as requiring parliamentary approval.

For whatever reason however, the government is afraid to bring the Ghana Gas contract to parliament for scrutiny and approval. Are we waiting to see Chinese warships around our coast when the Supreme Court would inevitably have ruled the contract a nullity?

OIL REVENUE

We had all hoped against all the odds that the discovery of oil in Ghana was going to be a blessing rather than a curse that has blighted the economies and the lives of many oil producing countries in our sub-region. One is tempted to ask whether this a forlorn hope. As at now it is estimated that since oil production started in Ghana, the country has earned an estimated US$1 billion. The minority in parliament had at the time of the passage of the Oil Revenue Management Act argued that a particular list of specific projects should be identified to which these monies will be appropriated. As it is, the Act provided for 4 areas of priority to be identified for the disbursement of the monies. As at now, almost half of this amount has gone into the activities of GNPC. A staggering GH¢112 million has also gone into capacity building. We have not been told whose capacity was built or where that money went.

Hardly has any perceptible difference been made in the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian since the discovery of oil. Indeed if anything, life has become tougher for us with the cost of living rising astronomically even though by some standards of voodoo economics we have been told that inflation was in single digits. Of cause the Woyome and beneficiaries of the guinea fowl and the afforestation and GYEEDA enterprises would legitimately contest this assertion.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, in a reckless display of ministerial authority and in a blatant disregard for the constitution of Ghana, a former Minister of Energy in the NDC administration, unilaterally and without reference to the Attorney General of the day abrogated a petroleum agreement entered into with the AKER SA of Norway and CHEMU GH limited which had been ratified by resolution of parliament as required by the constitution. To resolve this matter out of court and of public glare, the NDC government paid out a whopping US$33million of Ghana's oil money to AKER SA to placate it for the obvious illegality perpetuated by this government against it. What is sad about this case is that the abrogation was solely because the Ghanaian partner company of AKER appeared to have directors who were of an unacceptable political pedigree in the eyes of the NDC. And what is worse, the block that was taken away from AKER SA/CHEMU GH Ltd remains unexplored and undeveloped. If this is not a clear case of causing financial loss to the country, I do not know what is.

In the management of our oil revenue, even the nation's central bank has not been helpful to the public. In 2012, of the monies that the bank was asked to invest from the Heritage and Stabilization accounts, the bank only managed to make a paltry US$4,679 on an investment portfolio of US$54.8 million. And on an investment of US$14.4 million, interest accruing was US$1214.68 and yet for their efforts the bank charged an astonishing US$1.79 million and this was all under the watch of the "financial Guru" who now heads the economic management team as the vice president of the republic of Ghana. We can only pray that there is still time and space to steer ourselves towards the blessing of our oil resource.

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, in our last press conference on the state of the private sector of the economy, we identified how the energy sector has negatively impugned on the economy. The World Bank has recently reported that the economic damage inflicted by the current power shortfall is considerable. It blames the crisis on the Government's policies and indecisions which have delayed investment in generation and which is the root cause of the current power shortage. And only a few days ago, Jonathan Bloom, the Vice President of the US Millennium Challenge Corporation stated bluntly, that a number of US firms prepared to invest in Ghana are holding back due to unreliable power supply.

There we have it, ladies and gentlemen! The energy sector of Ghana is so riddled with corruption, inefficiency, indecision, self-interest and misguided and inappropriate policies that it has become a drag on the economic transformation of the country. We need a change of direction.

Thank you for coming.