Forum on Ghana's Emerging Oil and Gas sector held in Koforidua

Koforidua, DEC. 05, GNA - Participants at a forum on the

Engendering Legislative Frameworks for Ghana's emerging oil sector

have expressed worry about the abysmal policy regulatory frameworks

in the management of extractive resources of the country over the

years. They said the situation had resulted in poor development as well as

inequities among sections of the population with respect to the

distribution of income, resources and capital assets generated from the

"booms". According to them whiles all segments of the population had often

been negatively affected by the mismanagement of those extractive

resources, vulnerable groups, particularly women had been worst hit

by the poor management and governance of the resources. They have therefore appealed to Parliament to ensure that any bill

that would be passed concerning the emerging oil find should favour

such vulnerable groups, especially women. The concerns were raised at the Eastern Regional forum on the

gender dimensions of the Legislative Frameworks for Ghana's

emerging oil and gas sector in Koforidua, at the weekend. The forum, which was organized by the Network for Women's

Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT), was attended by more than 200

women activists from all the 21 Districts in the Region. Addressing the forum, the Programme Officer of NETRIGHT, Ms

Patricia Blankson Akakpo, said now that the various Oil Revenue

Management Bills were before the Parliament, current challenges in the

mining sector should serve as a caution to the state. She mentioned some of the challenges to include weak existing

legislation for the oversight of mining activities, weak capacity of local

mining communities to effectively use mineral wealth for poverty

reduction and insensitivity of policy initiatives to the special

circumstances of the poor and vulnerable, of whom majority were

women. She said the above lessons provided justification for concerns in

recent policy platforms that the emerging oil and gas sector might not

cater for the special circumstances of the poor and vulnerable in the

Ghanaian society, particularly women. Ms Akakpo said the mining industry in Ghana was a good example

of an exclusive masculine enclave and compared to the other sectors

women participate in and therefore urged the oil companies to employ

more women. The Eastern Regional Focal Person of NETRIGHT, Madam

Francisca Borkor Bortey, said the group was a coalition of

organizations and individuals, who are working together to promote the

gender dimension of national policies and processes and advocate for

policy change. She said NETRIGHT work was based on three core functions,

which include movement building, economic justice and land rights. Madam Bortey said those core functions were carried through

outreach programmes, public education, advocacy, information

sharing, research, publications networking and alliance building.