GHANA'S OIL; CAPE THREE POINT CRIES FOUL

Cape Three Point Township

'You can see Canaan, but you can never step there!' - a biblical quote attributed to God's punishment for stubborn Moses. 

Like Moses in the Holy Bible, who saw Canaan, but never stepped there, Cape Three Point is facing the same fate with regards to Ghana’s oil. 

After several years of oil exploration in Ghana, one would expect to see some improvement in the lives of the people of Ghana especially those whose communities are close to sites of exploration works.

Though several experts were consulted to help Ghana learn from the experiences of other oil-producing countries, much is desired. So did we learn any lessons?

Ahanta News 360’s Samuel Kojo Brace, visited Cape Three Point, the community well known to be associated with Ghana’s oil to find out if there has been any major improvement in the lives of the people. He filed this report.

REPORT

Part of Cape Three Point

Cape Three Point, known in the local Ahanta language as Andiyinli (Akyinkyin), is now a household name in Ghana; anyone who hears the name thinks of Ghana’s oil.

In 2007, when the announcement about the striking of oil in Ghana was made, the people of Cape Three Point, and in fact, the whole of Ahanta, and to a large extent, Western Region rejoiced. The reason was one; at least the region will see the needed development.

The people of the Western Region, and in particular, Cape Three Point had been neglected for too long, and thought this was their moment of glory. 

But two to three years down the line, a visit to the town shows no improvement; their street is just the same as Seven (7) years ago when I first visited; their buildings; the same, and the worst of it all, there is still no light in Cape Three Point and still contend with water problems, after these years of oil exploration.

The dreams of the people have not come into reality yet. A friend of mine prefers to describe it as a ‘Shattered Dream’! 

Entering the town, you are met on your arrival by a town square which is deserted; there is no one around, and usual of a village setting, you meet some children walking about bare-chested, and dirty. Around the village square, which they use as their lorry station, are some scattered buildings leading to the town itself.

For the whole day, one cannot go anywhere, or get any interesting thing to do since there is nothing, and absolutely nothing in the community that you can use to keep busy, unless you go to farm. It is a community which many city people will find very difficult living in.

You meet several of the youth of the community sitting under the community shed in Cape Three Point just talking amongst themselves, and planning what to do with their lives. At first sight, you see people whose goals in life have, in some, way been thwarted; life is taking its toll on them. 

WHAT THE YOUTH ARE SAYING

Kwesi Mensah is a 26-year old young man who has lived all his life in this town. He told me of a very sad story of life in Cape Three Point.

He said at the time they heard that the oil has been found in deep sea, Cape Three Points, they thought that some companies will be established for some of them to get jobs to do.

“We thought that by all means they will set up companies so that we can all get some work to do so that we can also better our lives.”

But to their disappointment, no company has since been established in or around the town so that they could get any form of job to do. He explained that it was on radio that they heard the exploration won’t be done on-shore but rather in-shore, adding that that has affected their fishing work negatively.

“The work that we do in sea, hmm, my brother is not easy. First when we go to sea, we use to catch more, but now when you go to sea, you see a lot of sea weeds and you therefore cannot cast your net to catch fish. So our work has really gone down and right now we are facing a lot of difficulties in the community,” a frustrated Kwesi Mensah told me.

He said that there is a general feeling amongst the youth of Cape Three Point that if they keep looking up to the government and the oil companies to reach out to them, they will be doing themselves more harm than good, and so the youth are now using all means available to them to better their lives so that their individual goals can be realised.

He added that “right now if you don’t plan for your own good and you look up to officialdom, you will fail in life, so we are all trying to better our lives. Whoever is going to school is going; those who are learning artisanship are doing, so everyone is trying to help him/herself.”

Kwesi Mensah said it’s very sad for officials not to engage in any of the oil related activities around Cape Three Point, so that the youth in the area can have some sources of employment to help them have better livelihoods. He said what is heart breaking is the fact that none of the youth have ever been considered for any of the training programmes run by the oil companies.

According to him, if some of the youth had been trained to get employment in the oil sector, it would have been good for the people of the community.

As most communities do when they hear of any relocation plans, residents of Cape Three Points, upon hearing that they might be relocated and their buildings built for them, increased the number of rooms they had individually.

According to Kwesi Mensah, those who did not own houses tried to put up some structures; others had to renovate theirs and increased the number of rooms they had, all with the hope that they will be given commensurate rooms should the relocation come off as rumoured.

Kwesi Mensah said however that to their disappointment nothing of that sort has happened, and it has left the residents very disappointed.

The young man, who was almost shedding tears through the interview, said he is only hoping for a brighter day, some day.

“I am hoping that they can take about ten youth from this community and train them to be part of the oil exploration so that we can also feel that we are being cared for.”

Another youth, Linda Kwofie, told me the hopes of the youth in the community that at long last Cape Three point will be developed into a better community have been dashed.

She said she thought that the oil drilling was going to take place in Cape Three Point, and that a refinery was going to be built on the shore of the community.

“Because of that many people came to buy lands from the chief; even our park was sold. But as we speak now nothing has happened,“ she said.

Holding on to the roof of a shed we were standing beside, Linda said they are much disappointed with the companies doing the exploration, and government because nothing better has happened to their community which proves that they are a community close to Ghana’s oil field. 

“I will blame government mainly because the name cape there point is being associated with the oil but nothing has happened in this town, and to the people of the town,” she said.

THE DECEIT

Linda told me that several people who claim to be associated with the oil, making emphasis to Tullow Officials, come to interview them on what they - the people of the town- want to do, with the thinking that the companied will help them to establish some businesses, but nothing is heard of those people when they leave.

“Different companies come, listen to our problems, and that ends it; we do not hear from there anymore. So we have even decided not to speak to anyone again concerning the oil.”

ARE THE AUTHORITIES CONCERNED?

In every situation, one would expect that authorities who are concerned with the issue at hand will act.

So what are the authorities doing about this issue? One of the local authority in the town is the Assemblywoman.

Hon Vida Dickson, is the Assembly woman for the Cape 3 Point electoral area. She tells me, they have done all what they could do to get some benefits from the oil find, but that has yielded nothing.

Part of Cape Three Point

Watch this space for more on cape Three Point and other surrounding communities.

Samuel Kojo Brace.https://dl-web.dropbox.com/get/sounds/SKB%20Cape%203%20Pt%20Report%20Part%201.mp3?_subject_uid=241759079&w=AAAlNMLJ6c8SXB8GPGYTNcr73t9hoj6tTW1-RFefaKXH5g