In my opinion:
As the saying goes, if you want to know how your wife will look like in her 40s
and 50s, look at your mother-in-law. Oil in Africa normally comes with conflict
and corruption. I would rather be happy than having oil which will cause
division among tribes in our only country. God bless Ghana.
Kwame Nkrumah, Kumasi & London
___________________________
Peter-Rhaina Gwokto
Remember: "LRA leader Joseph Kony is named in 12 counts for crimes against
humanity and 21 counts for war crimes. His deputy, Otti, is named in 11 counts
for crimes against humanity and 21 counts for war crimes. Alleged crimes
include rape, murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement and forced enlisting of
children". ICC must not withdraw its indictments.
Ghana 'will be an African tiger'
Mr Kufuor says he is happy oil was found under his watch
Ghana's President John Kufuor says the discovery of the country's first major
oil deposit could turn the West African country into an "African tiger".
"Even without oil, we are doing so well... With oil as a shot in the arm, we're
going to fly," he told the BBC.
"My joy is that I'll go down in history as the president under whose watch oil
was found to turn the economy of Ghana around for the better," he said.
The discovery of 600m barrels of light oil offshore was announced on Monday.
Reserves in the Mahogany exploration well were far greater than the 250m
barrels that UK-based firm Tullow Oil had earlier forecast.
Tullow, which saw its shares rise more than 12% on the news, jointly owns the
West Cape block where the drilling took place with Anadarko Petroleum.
'Destiny'
Correspondents say champagne bottles were popping at Osu Castle, the seat of
Ghana's government, after the announcement.
Mr Kufuor said the discovery would give a major boost to Ghana's economy.
We're going to really zoom, accelerate... and you'll see that Ghana truly is
the African tiger
Ghana's President John Kufuor
"Oil is money, and we need money to do the schools, the roads, the hospitals.
If you find oil, you manage it well, can you complain about that?" he told the
BBC's Focus on Africa programme.
He dismissed suggestions that Ghana may follow in the footsteps of other
countries that have mismanaged their oil wealth.
"Some are doing it well and I assure you if others failed, Ghana will succeed
because this is our destiny to set the good pace for where we are. So we're
going to use it well," he said.
"We're going to really zoom, accelerate, and if everything works, which I pray
will happen positively, you come back in five years, and you'll see that Ghana
truly is the African tiger, in economic terms for development."
His sentiments were echoed in many of Ghana's newspaper headlines on Tuesday.
The Statesman hailed the Gold Coast, Ghana's name under British rule, finding
"black gold" and the Accra Daily Mail leads with the headline: "Thank God. Oil
at last Thank God!"
The BBC's Will Ross in Ghana says the country is the midst of an energy crisis
and every four days everybody has their electricity switched off for more 24
hours.
Ghana is described as somewhat of a success story in Africa but the country
does suffer from widespread poverty and also has alarming levels of corruption,
our correspondent says.
Tullow chief executive Aidan Heavey said the discovery was one of the biggest
oil discoveries in Africa in recent times, but warned it could be up to seven
years before the oil started to flow.
Tullow Oil holds a 22.9% stake in the West Cape Three Points licence and just
under 50% in the Deepwater Tano licence.
The move comes as foreign firms are increasingly tapping into Africa for oil.
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