Oil companies impose foreign policy on Ghana

Source : Insight Newspaper/Ghana | Thu 02nd December, 2010 8:49 GMT

Some of the oil companies operating in the Jubilee Field have taken an unprecedented step to control Ghana's foreign policy and reduce the country to nothing more than an instrument of US hostility against other countries.

In a proposal to the Government of Ghana, the Companies are insisting that Ghana should automatically apply US sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Sudan.

The exact proposal is contained in the “Jubilee Field Unit Crude Oil Lifting Agreement” which is scheduled to be discussed in London next week.

It states that “All export tankers owned, technically managed or commercially operated by a company headquartered in, or flying flags of US sanctioned countries shall be automatically rejected.

“At present these countries are, Cuba, Iran and Sudan.

“TGL reserves the right to specify certain further flag states to be subject to this section 1.7 if they have been found not to comply with TGL vetting procedure.”

The proposal is calculated to undermine relations between Ghana and Cuba, Iran and Sudan and does not take account of the strategic interest of the people of Ghana.

Ghana has excellent relations with Iran which spans the fields of Health, Agriculture, Education and Culture.

Last month Iran gave Ghana a grant of US$1.5 million and tractors for the agricultural sector.

Iran has also established a University and a Clinic in Accra.

Every year, Cuba gives Ghana at least 200 health workers who keep the country's health delivery system alive.

Cuban experts are also currently working on a malaria eradication project in Ghana and other West African States.

Over the last 30 years, Cuba has provided scholarships to thousands of Ghanaians to study in different fields.

If the Government of Ghana accepts these demands it will turn Ghana into a poodle of the US and undermine her credibility in the African Union and the Non-Aligned Movement.