THE GAS PROJECT RELOCATION: GOVERNMENT MUST TAKE A CRITICAL LOOK AT THE SECURITY IMPLICATIONS

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We the farmers under the umbrella project impacted whose properties were destroyed as a result of the proposed gas project at Bonyere in the Jomoro district are calling on the government to reconsider its decision to relocate the project to Atuabo in the Ellembelle district, where the deputy Minister of Energy, Hon. Kofi Boah and the chairman of the Gas project Hon. Sipa Yankey hails from.

 
We the project impacted farmers are gargantuanly disappointed in the stance taken by the government to relocate the project.
We therefore find the justification for the relocation given by his Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills at a town hall meeting in Washington D.C as flimsy and unmeritorious. This is because Bonyere was initially certified as the best place for the gas project by the geological department, before the GNPC/VRA started marking and destroying properties on our lands for the project.
Also learning from the experiences from other oil producing countries in Africa, it is imperative for the government to note that in taking decisions in relation to the oil industry, security implication supersedes all other implications, such as cost or political implication.

 
As of now most people in the Jomoro district whose means of survival depends mainly on fishing, selling fresh coconuts and copra oil has been stripped or deprived of their livelihood as a result of the oil find, thus the proposed gas project at Bonyere has led to the destruction of our coconut trees and we are also proscribed from fishing around the oil rig, where most of the fished are located.
As a result of these we the project impacted farmers and the entire people of Jomoro put our expectations on the proposed 1.2 billion dollars gas project, which is expected to create employment for about 5000 people as our alternative source of livelihood.
And with the shocking news to relocate the project to Atuabo by the government, we the project impacted farmers and the entire people of Jomoro, especially the youth are down hearted and if care is not taken the Henry Okah led Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), which constantly destroy oil and gas pipes in Nigeria might be replicated in Ghana, as the wise dictum posits “an idle mind is the workshop of the devil”.

 
It is also indispensable for the government to note that, whatever decision it takes on the location of the gas project, pipelines would inevitably be laid through Jomoro district. And if the people of the Jomoro district where the oil is located are not happy or satisfied with the location of the project, then they might pose a serious threat to the success of the project.
It is therefore against this backdrop that we believe it is therefore incongruous or out of place on the part President John Evans Atta Mills led government to subject the security implications of the gas project to the cost implication, thus the government is only considering reducing the length of pipelines by 23 kilometres as against the security implication. And if care is not taken the entire gas project might be a fiasco or a curse to the country instead of a blessing.

 
It is in view of this that we the project impacted farmers are calling on his Excellency President John Evans Atta Mills led government to take another critical look at its decision to relocate the project to Atuabo and rescind it by considering the security implication of the gas project, So that Ghana’s oil find would be a blessing, but not a curse.

 
We would also entreat the government to involve all stakeholders especially the people of Jomoro in the decision making process to determine the exact favourable location of the project, so as to prevent any future disturbances.

 

AKANNI ABRAHAM
THE LEADER
PROJECT IMPACTED FARMERS
024-6920851, 020-8863037

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