I won’t allow my ministers to steal Ghana’s oil money – Mills
President John Evans Mills says he will not allow his ministers or people close to him to steal the country’s oil revenue, according to a news bulletin monitored on Citi FM by ghanabusinessnews.com.
President Mills said these when he addressed a meeting of Swiss and Ghanaian business people in Zurich, Switzerland where he is currently on an official visit.
He said, the oil find will only become a problem if the country allows it, assuring the meeting that “we will learn from the best” to avoid the problems associated with oil elsewhere.
Citing a Ghanaian proverb, he said, “a person who is constructing a path, does not know his path is crooked, it will take someone to point that out to him.” He therefore, encouraged Ghanaians in the Diaspora to offer their advise and possibly come back home to help.
“We want the oil revenue to be used to help the people of Ghana,” he said, adding, “we want to use the oil revenue to help develop agriculture, education and health.”
The President is expected back in Accra September 1, 2010.
Since Ghana found oil in commercial quantity in 2007, the sector is attracting significant attention. Commercial production, according to Tullow Oil, the major stakeholder in the country’s oil, will begin in November or December 2010.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi
Well Said Mr President!
It ‘s so refreshing to hear government officials encourage Ghanaians in diaspora to come back home and contribute to the national developement effort.
The unfortunate thing is that no formal administrative effort has been put in place to manage this process. In most cases, highly qualified & motivated individuals take up these challenges only to be confronted with “gridlock” back home.
Majority of CV’s end up in top drawers of senior officials without the courtesy of even an aknowledgement from the recipients.
Surely, a great deal of effort has been made to attract FDI (foriegn direct investors) and the result is there for all to see.
Some learnings can be drawn from here to support the lure of diasporian Ghanaians back home.
Please let us demonstrate that the time for rhetoric is OVER and together we will build a stronger nation
Regards,
Fiifi Hinson