Government acquires Atuabo lands

June 23 lead story 

The government has compulsorily acquired lands on which the gas processing plant at Atuabo in the Western Region is situated.

By the acquisition, the lands in dispute at Atuabo, the metering station of the gas project and the right of way for gas pipelines to Aboadze have all become the property of the state in the public interest.
The Minister of Lands and Forestry has signed Executive instruments (EIs) which have compulsorily acquired lands in seven areas on behalf of the state.
Consequently, a Gazette notification, dated June 13, 2014, has given notification of the compulsory acquisition.
Article 20 of the 1992 Constitution mandates the government to compulsorily acquire lands for the benefit of the public.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong, disclosed that owners of the lands in the affected areas would be duly compensated.

Dispute over land

The Omanhene of the Eastern Nzema Traditional Area, Awulae Amihere Kpanyinli III, took the Ghana National Gas Company (Ghana Gas) and four others to court on April 15, 2014 over the takeover of the affected lands by Ghana Gas without any payment.
Awulae Kpanyinli had argued in his affidavit in support of the suit that none of the defendants had lawfully acquired the land from the traditional authorities.
The other defendants in the substantive case are SINOPEC, the Chinese construction firm working on the Atuabo Gas Project, Quantum Terminals Limited, the Ghana Oil Company (GOIL) and Ernest Nunoo, owner of the Ernest Seafront Hotel.

Compensation

As a result of the government’s compulsory acquisition, which is backed by the 1992 Constitution, lawyers for Ghana Gas are expected to either amend the defence to include the fact of the acquisition or formally announce the latest development to the court.
The amendment and or formal announcement to the court is due to the fact that the land had not been completely acquired as of the time of the acquisition.
Referring to the landowners, Mrs Appiah-Opong said, “All they are entitled to now is compensation. We will pay them.”
She indicated that by the provisions of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the government was obligated to pay compensation when it compulsorily acquired land for public purposes.
“The fact that we will pay the compensation is not in doubt. The government will live up to its obligation,” she said.

Lands being valued

Asked what was being done as of now, the Attorney-General disclosed that the Land Valuation Board was currently valuing the affected lands.
“They have started the valuation of the affected lands,” she said, and gave an assurance that the government would begin the process of paying affected land owners when the valuation process had been completed.

Court case

The Sekondi High Court, on June 19, 2014, overturned its earlier ruling that restrained Ghana Gas and four others from carrying on any activity on the land on which the company operated until Ghana Gas regularised its occupation with the Eastern Nzema Traditional Council.
That was after the court had upheld an application for a variation of its earlier decision filed by Ghana Gas.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Kofi Akrowia, had, on Monday, June 9, 2014, restrained the defendants from carrying on work at the project site for a period of 14 days, within which Ghana Gas was to contact the chiefs and the people of the traditional area to regularise its stay on the land.

Initial action

The court imposed the injunction following an application filed by Awulae Kpanyinli.
It had, in its earlier ruling, said should the defendants fail to take advantage of that leeway offered by the court to regularise their occupation of the land, the injunction would then become permanent.

Case for Ghana Gas

Arguing the case for Ghana Gas at the Takoradi High Court on June 19, 2014, its counsel, Mr Enoch Larbi-Aboagye, said prior to the commencement of the construction of the gas processing plant, the company had, together with officials of the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, approached the plaintiff and indicated the intention of the Government of Ghana, through the company, to site the plant, which formed part of the Western Corridor Gas Infrastructure Development Project, at Atuabo.
According to him, it would cost Ghana Gas US$1,217,505 in labour for each day and US$17,045,070 for the 14 days that the expatriate workers would remain idle as a result of the restraining order and the order would result in the delay of the supply of gas to the Volta River Authority for the generation of thermal power.
The court, consequently, granted counsel’s prayer and vacated its injunction on Ghana Gas and the other defendants.

Fuel under ‘lock and key’ over GH¢1.8 billion debt

June 23, 2014 - page 16 

 The government’s GH¢1.8 billion indebtedness to bulk oil distribution companies (BDCs) has taken a new dimension, with the potential to negatively affect the supply of petroleum products across the country in the coming weeks.

This is because international suppliers of petroleum products have put under ‘lock and key’ one week’s supply of petrol and diesel until the BDCs honour their debt obligations to the suppliers.

To compound the problem, local banks have declined to issue letters of credit (LCs) to the BDCs to pay off their debts to their international suppliers because the current debt is threatening the survival of the banks.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors (CBOD Ghana), Mr Senyo Hosi, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the situation would create fuel shortages across the country within a week if the government did not take immediate steps to pay its debt to the BDCs.

However, a highly-placed government source, which acknowledged the problems facing the BDCs, said the government and its agencies were in talks with the companies to resolve the issue once and for all.

It said there was no cause for alarm because the situation would be normalised in no time.

Audit of debt

Meanwhile, the government has tasked international audit firm, Ernst and Young to, conduct an audit into the GH¢1.8 billion debt, being subsidies on petrol and diesel from July 2011 to date.

It will take about six weeks for the audit to be completed, but Mr Hosi indicated that the situation would get out of hand if the BDCs had to wait for six weeks before discharging fuel products.

Welcoming the government’s decision to audit the claims of the BDCs, he said, “Since it will take six weeks to complete the audit, vis-a-vis the urgency of the crisis we face, partial payment must be made.”

“In principle, the parties, including the government, the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), the BDCs and the banks, do agree that a debt exists in some form,” he said. 

 To establish “funding confidence in the industry”, he suggested that the government needed to make some payment to resuscitate the supply of petroleum products to the market. 

Stop subsidising

While indicating that fuel shortage was imminent, as a result of the outstanding debt, Mr Hosi said there was no need for the government to continue subsidising fuel products.

He said there was lack of clarity on the government’s commitment to honour its debt obligation, while it continued to subsidise fuel.

“When you continue to subsidise, you are digging a bigger hole because you are increasing debt without clearing it. You don’t solve a problem by creating more problems,” he said.

Meanwhile, there was fuel at filling stations in some parts of Accra, in spite of speculations that fuel shortage will hit the country soon, reports Seth J. Bokpe, ACCRA.

Out of the 16 fuel stations the Daily Graphic visited at Adabraka, Kaneshie, Darkuman, Sakaman, the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Odorkor, Osu and along the Farrar Avenue, only two did not have diesel or petrol.

Attendants at the Sky Oil Filling Station at the Nkrumah Circle told the Daily Graphic that the station had run out of petrol since last Friday.

And at the Total Filling Station near the Ghana Commercial Bank at Circle, the attendant said the station ran out of diesel Friday.

However, at the Adabraka Total Filling Station, near the Roxy Cinema, an attendant told the Daily Graphic that there was enough fuel to last for even two weeks.

The story was different at the Shell Station near Abossey Okai where the attendant said the station had taken delivery of fuel on Saturday.

At the Kaneshie-Odorkor GOIL Station, the attendants said they had enough fuel to last until Tuesday but were not sure when the next consignment would arrive.

At the Darkuman Total, the attendants said the last time the station received fuel was 10 days ago.

“All we have heard are rumours of an impending fuel shortage, but we have enough to go for a week or two,” the attendants, who asked for anonymity, said.

At the Sakaman GOIL and Shell stations, busy fuel attendants said the two stations had enough fuel. They, too could not tell when their next delivery would arrive, nor could they tell when what they had now would finish.

It was the same story at OJK Oil and Darkuman GOIL, both at Darkuman, and the Goil and Shell Filling stations at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle.

However, at the Accra Sports Stadium, an attendant said if the station did not receive any fuel by Wednesday, then there would be shortage.

EOCO messed up my company -Witness

June 21 page 31

The Managing Director of Auxesia Energy Limited yesterday enumerated how the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) messed up her company.

Testifying at the Financial Division of the High Court, Mrs Faith A. Odulu, said EOCO froze her company’s account without notifying her, and to make matters worse, it decided to serve her with the freezing order a month and some days after  the company’s account was frozen.

Elaborating the impact EOCO’s action has had on Auxesia Energy Limited, Mrs Odulu said the freezing of her company’s account had put both psychological and financial burden on her and the company.

Aside that the witness said the company had lost credibility with its business partners and bankers due to the manner the EOCO had treated her company.

Led by her lawyer, Mr Godfred Yeboah Dame, to give evidence-in-chief, Mrs Odulu said, “EOCO has caused damage to our person and the company.”

UT Guaranteed overdraft

Dispelling EOCO’s allegations of her company engaging in money laundering and financing of terrorism, Mrs Odulu said she gave EOCO all the facts to prove her company was not into such activities.

In any case, Mrs Odulu explained that the UT Bank granted her company a temporary overdraft to purchase Low Pour Fuel Oil (LPFO) from Earth Petroleum.

Tendering in evidence documents and bank statements on the transaction, the witness said the source of money for the transaction came from UT Bank and for that reason could the UT Bank be said to be promoting money laundering and terrorism financing?

She said she was not aware the UT Bank had ever been accused by the EOCO of financing terrorist activities.

Money belongs to Auxesia Energy

Laying claim to $391,250 withdrawn from her account and paid into the coffers of the Judicial Service, Mrs Odulu said the court should not entertain other claimants, namely Soleushing Nigeria and Soleushing UK.

According to her, Auxesia Energy Limited had not conducted business with any of those companies to warrant them to claim ownership of the amount.

She said her company purchased the LPFO from Earth Petroleum, which had in turn chartered MV Soleushing, the vessel which carted  the LPFO from Nigeria to Saltpond.

That according to her was a clear indication that Auxesia had business with only Earth Petroleum and for that reason the court should order the defreezing of her company’s account, and the subsequent return of the $391,250 to Auxesia Energy Limited.

Mrs Odulu produced bank statements which showed that the owner of Earth Petroleum, Elder Christopher Isibor, had indeed withdrawn various sums of money from Auxesia Energy Limited’s account to cover part of the cost of the LPFO which was discharged in April 2013.

A copy of the bank statements and other documents to prove Mrs Odulu’s claims were tendered in evidence without objection from the parties in the case.

EOCO cross examines witness

Answering questions under cross examination from counsel for EOCO, Mr Edward Cudjoe, the witness insisted she and her company were humiliated by the EOCO for two weeks before they could seek audience with the organisation.

Counsel had attempted to rebut Mrs Odulu’s testimony that she and her Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who happened to be her spouse, were sidestepped by the EOCO for two weeks, although they were honouring  EOCO’s invitation.

In response to counsel’s rebuttal, Mrs Odulu elaborated the kind of humiliation they suffered by stating that she and husband/CEO reported at the EOCO offices from 6 a.m. to 6p.m. daily for two weeks.

She also cited instances when she had shared seats with persons in handcuffs while attempting to seek audience to demand explanation as to why her company’s account had been frozen.

Mrs Odulu denied first setting foot in the EOCO office on June 21, 2013 and insisted that it was rather on that day that she had access to EOCO officials after being tossed for two weeks.

Freezing Directive

In reply to Mrs Odulu’s submission that her company was not notified of the freezing order, Mr Cudjoe reminded her that the EOCO was not mandated to inform her of a freezing directive.

He sought to explain to her that her company’s account was frozen based initially on a freezing directive and not on a court order but the witness told him the issue was that her account was frozen without notification, and was only notified a month and some days after the action.

Genesis of Transaction

Mrs Odulu told the court that she was introduced to Elder Isibor by Mr Ben Antwi, who said he did not have funds to purchase the LPFO.

Asked if she knew the source of the LPFO, Mrs Odulu answered in the negative and denied an assertion by Mr Cudjoe that the vessel carrying the LPFO was held by militants until she paid $250,000 to Elder Isibor.