Threat to blow oil fields: Minority demands evidence from Agyarko

The Minority in Parliament has asked the Minister of Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko to provide proof to support claims that some people were conspiring to blow up oil and gas installations in Ghana.

They have also asked the minister to cause the arrest of the politicians he alleged were behind the plot. 

According to the Minority, if the minister fails to do so by the end of the week, they will trigger processes in Parliament to compel him to assist the House protect the country’s oil and gas resources.

The Energy Minister is reported to have said that the recent agitations against the Ghana-United States military cooperation have reached an alarming level, with reports of a plot to blow up oil facilities in the Western Region of Ghana.

According to Mr Agyarko, some disgruntled politicians have been engaging the youth of the area in an attempt to cause disaffection for the operators of the oilfields, similar to what happens in other jurisdictions like Nigeria.

He made these statements in Houston, Texas, USA, at a meeting with some oil companies on the side-lines of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC).

But a statement signed by a former Deputy Minister for Power and Member of Parliament for Yapei Kusawgu, John Jinapor, described the Energy Minister’s statements as having the potential to scare away investors and negatively impact the oil and gas sector.

“If Mr Agyarko's allegations remain unsubstantiated, it will go down in history as the most reckless, unpatriotic, self-destructive and treacherous statement ever made by a Cabinet Minister against Ghana's economic progress and national interest,” the statement said.

It further described the statements as “fantastically unnationalistic, spurious and outrageous.”

The Minority has, therefore, called on the Mr Agyarko to as a matter of urgency substantiate and cause the arrest and prosecution of the politicians he claims are conspiring to blow up the country’s oil and gas installations.

“If the Minister fails to provide the necessary evidence by close of week, we demand that National Security takes the appropriate steps to invite the Minister for interrogation. We expect our institutions charged with the duty to protect life and property including our natural resources to be up and doing especially in the face of such grave threats. This is certainly not a matter to be ignored or swept under the carpet,” the statement added.

“The Minority hereby serves notice that should the Minister and the National Security Apparatus fail to discharge their moral and legal obligations in this matter, we will trigger processes in Parliament to compel the Minister to assist the House protect our Oil and Gas resources as is expected of a responsible Minority and any Parliament worth its salt,” it said.