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Resource
Management and Planning for our Future Generations
 Mid December, Ghana’s President, Mr. Atta Mills
ceremoniously turned the valve on one of the off-shore platforms. “We
must give thanks to God for giving us this natural asset,” Mills said
after opening a tap to release oil aboard a storage ship. Ghana
officially began producing oil to the tune of 55,000 barrels per day, up
to 120,000 barrels per day, within the first 6 months. Ghana is slated
to net $400m in the first year.
Mr. Atta Mills promised to learn from the mistakes
of other African leaders and save some of the proceeds for succeeding
generations, but no sooner than he turned the valve he had leveraged $14
BILLION from the Chinese alone. His
willingness to leverage the nation’s oil wealth will saddle future
generations with debt, while failing to avoid the economic decay that
has accompanied oil riches in countries such as Nigeria. The borrowing
comes just six years after Ghana won $3.5 billion in debt relief from
the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
If that isn’t
enough, on the morning of January 4, 2011, when everyone was busy
trying to add another hole to increase their belt size, the government
announced that there would be 30% percent increase in the prices
of fuel! Wait a bleepin minute, those fools had the audacity to
increase the price of fuel simultaneous to becoming an oil producing
nation. Only a mis-educated fool could explain that math and only a mis-educated
fool would overstand it. But it is the language of our “leaders”
straight across the continent and they get away with it because they
keep the masses ignorant and desperate, too busy trying to survive to
complain about the mismanagement of funds they have no idea they are
entitled to. Those with any ambition simply seek to posses the very
political seats that will entitle them also to unaccountable funds,
petro allowances and a renewable membership card to Volta Hall.
The corruption is beyond entrenched, the mentality
beyond decadent. Africa is being looted by her own children, no
different than before. These so-called leaders are our principle
problem. Their immoral example is what breeds the depraved ways of the
so-called criminals in our society today. It is disgusting! Never
before has Africa been in greater trouble, never before could it have
looked so bleak. It must be the darkest hour before the dawn. It must,
cause Jah nah sleep.
In the mean time the cost of living in Accra is
quickly approaching par with some of the most expensive cities in the
World. A 30% increase in oil prices translates in a 30% increase across the board,
except for salaries, of course. In other words, a 30% cut in pay.
Wicked. It is unbelievable when you hear about fiscal policy in Africa,
but to witness it is down right nauseating. And so they do it with
the cocoa, the bauxite, the gold, the diamonds and anything else they
can leverage, only to fill their stinking bellies.
References:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-12-22/ghana-s-new-oil-wealth-may-trigger-borrowing-spree.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11996983
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