John Dramani Mahama, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Flagbearer, has attributed Ghana’s 35% drop in petroleum production to corruption within the current government.
Speaking to the Western Regional House of Chiefs in Sekondi during his regional tour, he accused officials of demanding exorbitant sums from investors for oil blocks, driving companies like ExxonMobil to more favorable markets such as Ivory Coast.
Mahama highlighted the progress achieved in the petroleum sector under his administration and lamented the setbacks caused by corruption, which he says have eroded investor trust.
He assured the chiefs that an NDC government would implement a robust plan to rebuild confidence and revitalize the industry, restoring Ghana’s position as a competitive destination for petroleum investment.
“There is a lot of work hard that will be required by the new government. I will not deceive you that it will be easy to revive the country. It will demand a lot of hard work to revive it. I believe that NDC has the people to do that work.
“We have decided to talk to the oil companies to come back and work with us. There is something called climate change and they have started manufacturing electric vehicles for people to withdraw from investing in oil. So this is the time to put your oil on fast sales, else it will get to a time where no one will purchase oil from you, so we have to be fast about it so that we can benefit from it.”
The Paramount Chief of Lower Axim, Awulae Attribrukusu and the Paramount Queen Mother of Shama, Nana Akosua Gyamfiaba both bemoaned the poor state of the healthcare and devastation by galamsey, calling on John Mahama to ban Changfan manufacturing in Ghana and its importation when he becomes President.
The flagbearer of the NDC also interacted with the Western Regional Clergy in the Effia Constituency and he is expecting to visit all the 17 constituencies of the Western Region by the close of Wednesday.
Mahama was accompanied by his Campaign Manager, Joshua Alarbi, and other party bigwigs including Totobi Kwarkyi, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah and Julius Debrah.
