EO Group Members are Heroes not Villains

Dr. Kwesi Mensah Wilson

As a Ghanaian and someone who has charted the same course as the EO Group did during the previous administration, I feel compelled to come out and voice my opinion. If the next phrase put you off as a reader and discourages you from reading any further, I can understand. But simply put, this government is demonstrating an epic form of dishonesty never before seen even on the continent of Africa where such vices as vindictiveness, jealousy and selfishness are all too prevalent. It is flat out DISGUSTING (excuse the language) that the very people who like to proclaim that Ghana is not for any individual are the very people whose behaviors and actions exhibit such belief in ownership of our country. Based on an objective analysis of what we know so far, NOT ONLY SHOULD THE EO GROUP NOT ENDURE THE HARRASSMENT IT IS BEING SUBJECTED TO, ITS TWO PARTMERS SHOULD BE HAILED AS NATIONAL HEROES.

There comes a time when a person’s conscience and integrity must prevail over gains be they financial or personal satisfaction. To this end, before I proceed any further, I have to declare, based on my own conscience and the integrity that God has been kind to bestow on me, that I have not benefitted from any of my activities, political or civic, from anyone – not in the previous government or anywhere. I have never met any of the Partners of the EO Group. Thus, I can make the following observations and facts as I know them:

On Conflict of Interest: How can anyone insinuate that when one signs an agreement with the government in July of 2004, and then begins working for the government in September of 2004, he did so as an employee of the government? The argument that, because the process of appointing him took more than two months, it still represent conflict of interest is as bogus as suggesting that once one fills out an application for a job in a company, one should consider himself an employee of that company. Even more dishonest is that Mr. Asafo Agyei, just ONE WEEK before his appointment by this NDC government, was the registered representative of Vanco Oil, which owns a block in Ghana. The government has exhausted its resources on the so-called conflict of interest hypothesis, and has all but abandoned that fishing expedidtion.

Tsikata’s Overblown Role When people argue based on emotions rather than logic, they end up exuding folly. Enough has been said about Tsatsu Tsikata’s role in gathering data. First, if data translated into discovery, we would be swimming in oil by now. The fact is that for 15 years, the data that Tsikata’s GNPC gathered did not result in any discovery. Based on then existing GNPC or Tsikata’ data, Hess drilled a well just on top of the Jubilee field and came out dry; Tullow drilled and came out dry in the Tano Shallow; and Hunt drilled and failed to find oil at a well loceated in the same Cape Three Point where Kosmos discovered oil. The difference, Kosmos went beyond the GNPC data and used its own Geologist to gather additional data. Tsikata and GNPC are pounding their chest that their data resulted in the oil discovery. Why then did they wait until Kosmos and EO showed up to discover the oil?

Use of Inside Information It has been suggested that the EO Group used its access to “inside information” to secure “favorable spots” where supposedly oil was known to exist. This argument should be an insult to Tsikata and the GNPC because if they were aware of such “favorable spots,” they were either inept in their failure to discover oil earlier, or they are guilty of harboring vital pieces of information. And for those still uncomfortable with the preceding argument, you have to then concede that EO succeeded where Tsikata and GNPC failed. If you cannot come to grips with the two preceding arguments, then the obvious conclusion is that the idea of known favorable spots is a fallacy.

Critical Difference The reality is that the GNPC under the previous NDC administration operated with folks who insisted on cash payments upfront when they brought prospectors to Ghana. Those prospectors weighed available data against their chances of success and decided that stiff cash upfront payments were just too risky. Many companies left due to this uncertainty. Remember that agreements can take many forms. One can demand upfront payments for bringing a company to Ghana, or sign a contingency agreement such that one receives nothing upfront for one’s troubles. But then one receives a percentage if there is success. It is similar to arrangements between attorneys and clients. If an attorney charges a fee upfront, those fees are usually lower than what they receive in a contingency arrangement. That is how the EO/Kosmos agreement came about.

Known Sacrifices Reports indicate that when these two individuals decided to come together to form the EO Group, one (Dr.Kwame Bawuah-Edusei) was a practicing Physician in the Washington, DC area. Anyone knows the difference between what Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States make and what a practicing Physician in United States makes. Not too many people would take that pay cut – not for resume embellishment, and certainly not for access, especially if it is also being argued that he already had access to the former president. The other (Mr. George Yaw Owusu) was a commodity Manager with Shell Oil. Quitting the job of commodity manager at Shell Oil to pursue a “pipe dream” that many oil prospectors have tried and failed to achieve in Ghana, to me, bordered on insanity. But he did. Are these the same people we as a nation are castigating?

Double Standard Within one year of this NDC administration, we have seen NDC supporters seize toilets. We have seen open calls even by former president Rawlings for all public servants from the NPP era to be replaced by NDC supporters. The president himself has explained in his recent press conference that if someone does not share your philosophy, it makes no sense to keep him in your government. Understood. But how can these same people have a problem with those who happen to know former president Kufuor, and happen to be supporters of NPP doing business AS PRIVATE CITIZENS with the government under the NPP?

Look, we all know political witch hunt when we see one. After over a year of investigations, many of us are waiting for real evidence of criminality presented in a court of law against the EO Group. If the government has such evidence, it should please not keep us waiting and to proceed with its court charges. But in the absence of such damning evidence, the government should spare us the innuendos and leave these young men alone. They did what every member of the Ghanaian Diaspora should be doing. And as nation that has historically depended on foreign investment for our national development, this exercise gives us a very bad name and threatens to undo many of the inroads into international acclaim that we have accumulated over the years.