<<Print>>

It is now crystal clear that all along, the government actions against Kosmos Energy were aimed at making the exploration and drilling giant�s stake less and less attractive, in order to buy it as cheaply as possible. We are now at a stage where the government is trying very hard to complete this conspiracy, having announced that its advisors are preparing to come up with a valuation of the energy giant�s asset in the Jubilee Oilfields. No one should be too surprised to hear that this asset is valued at a figure that is lower than the US$4 billion ExxonMobil was prepared to pay; a figure more in tune with the wishes of the sole buyer � the government of Ghana. After all, the competitive bidding process set in place by Kosmos to determine a fair market value of their asset was derailed by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) when it insisted on a so-called pre-emptive right, and drove everyone away with allegations of illegality by Kosmos Energy. What a way to do business! No wonder so many suitors have come and gone without a deal being done. Chevron didn�t even try, describing the way things were going on in Ghana as a mess. BP came and went. Total also contemplated buying into Jubilee, but later changed its mind. Even the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC)�s Chinese friends and Sinopec seem to have come and gone. It is worth reflecting on the kind of image being presented of business in Ghana with these kinds of actions coordinated by government. Whilst the Minister of Energy is busy referring to ongoing business talks with Kosmos, the Attorney General is referring to criminal investigations. Kosmos, it is now evident, has to have its name dragged in the mud in order to do business in Ghana. Let�s hope and pray they do not narrate their harrowing experience about Ghana to other business ventures trying to come in. But who will blame them if they do? There is no doubt that they have burnt their finger in a country whose government pretends to be business-friendly. One reason responsible for the unfolding nauseating development is the inability of successive governments to separate a commercial situation from political retribution. Before government changed in the 2008 elections, Kosmos was the �darling boy� of Ghana. They had done what no one else had managed to achieve � discover oil in commercial quantities, as we like to say. George Owusu of the EO Group received an award from the government for his efforts. Then government changed. The new administration, convinced that Kosmos was pro-NPP, immediately set out to distress the company. Investigations of Kosmos commenced and are running into a year already and we presume will run for the next three years. Ghana has to rise above this kind of politics. We go around calling ourselves democratic because every four years, we have elections. What about what happens in between? This bad practice of trying to put people in jail because they belong to a different political persuasion is unbecoming of a democracy. We have collectively undertaken to be governed by a system that respects the rule of law. To treat a partner in the Jubilee project (and this is in fact the partner that first struck oil) like this, and prepare to tell them that their worth is extraordinary, is anything but best practice. If this is not tantamount to expropriation, then we do not know what is. God save this country, Ghana.