A coalition of 29 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) is demanding the immediate removal of the Board Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Freddie Blay.
The CSOs are the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, the Institute for Democratic Governance(IEG), the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC) and 24 others.
The groups also demand the removal of the acting Chief Executive Officer of GNPC, Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah.
According to them, the two threaten Ghana’s interest in the petroleum sector.
A statement signed by representatives of the CSOs said, “A country micromanaged by the IMF cannot be seen to be engaging in fiscal recklessness that undermines its recovery.”
“In these difficult times, the nation needs prudent management of its resources to derive the fullest of benefits and bring relief to the suffering masses,” the letter added.
The coalition said the recurring controversies surrounding Aker Energy and AGM operations in Ghana and the sale of 50% of Jubilee Oil Holding Limited’s interest in the Deepwater Tano block to PetroSA are of great concern.
“We demand the immediate removal of Opoku Ahweneeh Danquah, GNPC’s CEO, and Freddie W. Blay, the Board Chairman, from their positions as they have become a threat to Ghana’s petroleum sector,” Abdulkarim Mohammed, the Coordinator of the coalition, said, while reading the statement at a press conference in Accra.
This comes after the Energy Minister Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh accused Mr Blay of offering interest in Ghana’s oil fields to a South African oil company, Petroleum Oil and Gas Corporation of South Africa (PetroSA).
The GNPC Board Chairman is said to have written to PetroSA, offering an equal split in the interest held by GNPC’s subsidiary Jubilee Oil Holdings Ltd.
Dr Prempeh insists this move is not in the interest of Ghana as the nation will lose revenue and therefore asked Mr Blay to withdraw the offer immediately.
Below is the list of all the 29 CSOs
