Sahara Saga: Minister Holds Another Press Conference

The Minister for Energy, Albert Kan Dapaah, will this afternoon be discussing issues on the Sahara Oil Contract at a press conference. This will be the second press conference on the Sahara Oil Contract to be held within one month.

However, unlike the first Media encounter, which sought to address allegations by the media, today’s event will respond to calls by the NDC parliamentary group for the Minister to resign and for an independent enquiry to be conducted into Ghana’s oil contract.

The NDC Parliamentarians say Sahara will be paid 3.2 million dollars annually for doing virtually nothing. They have also accused the government of deceiving Ghanaians when it announced that the company was being paid only 26 cents for each barrel lifted.

According to the minority group, the government is rather paying 81 cents, which includes a premium of 55 cents. The statement announcing the press conference invited the Minority leader Alban Bagbin, Minority spokesman for Energy, Kofi Asante, Minority Chief Whip Doe Adjaho and the former Minister and Deputy minister for Energy to be present.

The NDC group has however turned down the invitation saying the matter can be resolved in Parliament. The MP for Avenor and Minority Chief Whip, Edward Doe Adjaho says holding of press conferences will not resolve the issues at stake. Mr. Adjaho has made it clear he will not attend the press conference since he is not a journalist.

He said the Energy Minister had an opportunity to debate the Sahara issue with him, on a JOY-FM current Affairs debate Programe, “Cross-Fire” but walked out of the studios, about 15 minutes into the programme . Mr. Dapaah had alleged that Mr. Adjaho was not well informed on the issue. Mr. Adjaho told JOYFM that the NDC group will continue to press for an independent enquiry into the contract. The lifting of crude oil from Nigeria to Ghana has generated a lot of debate ever since Ghana signed the agreement.