OIL, GAS FORUM HELD IN SUNYANI (PAGE 38)

Story: Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Sunyani

Members of the National Technical Committee on Oil and Gas have been called upon to actively involve the churches and all other religious organisations in the country in the on-going regional consultations on the draft oil and gas policy document for the country.
Reverend Kwadwo Owusu-Sarpong, in-charge of the Awuah-Odumase Presbyterian Church in the newly created Sunyani West District in the Brong Ahafo Region, who made the call, observed that leaders of the various religious groups had access to a large proportion of the country’s population and were therefore in the position to educate and sensitise the people to the prospects and intricacies that were associated with the oil and gas find in the country.
Rev. Owusu-Sarpong, who was contributing to the discussions at the regional consultative forum in Sunyani on Wednesday, said any attempt to sideline the religious leaders in the dissemination of information on such important national resource would be a disservice to the people.
On February 25 and 26, 2008, a National Forum on Oil and Gas Development was held in Accra with the objective of having the government of Ghana to involve all stakeholders in a discussion of the petroleum sector issues and to benefit from the lessons learnt by other countries.
By sharing of local and international experiences, the process of consultation has been initiated to facilitate the development of a comprehensive national policy for the oil and gas
sector and an Industry Master Plan.
The Brong Ahafo Regional forum discussed four key areas, namely Resource Management, Revenue Management, Health, Safety, Environment and Social Responsibility and Security.
It was attended by Municipal/District Chief Executives, Presiding Members, Heads of Departments, representatives of non-governmental organisations and political parties, chiefs, energy experts and other stakeholders of the oil and gas industry.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, in his welcoming address, stressed that the oil and gas find in Ghana was a significant blessing that “God had showered on our dear nation at 50 years of our nationhood and the best legacy we can leave behind for the future generations is to ensure best practices in the exploitation and management of this important resource”.
He, however, noted that oil finds could be said to be a blessing because of the positive dividends that would come with the exploitation.
Mr Baffour-Awuah expressed confidence that the country could take cognisance of the positive and negative experiences of other oil-producing countries to produce a policy which would help Ghana harness the oil and gas with minimum benefits and minimal negative experiences.