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Killing the hen that laid the golden egg can pass for the treatment which is being meted out to the energy giant Kosmos. It is worthwhile recalling how various futile efforts were undertaken to strike oil in the country. During the Busia regime, the late RR Amponsah�s announcement about the existence of the black gold in the country was even ridiculed by adversaries of the then Progress Party. As God would have it, oil was struck at last under former President John Agyekum Kufuor. We are aware about the efforts and sometimes even pleadings the former president had to engage in to get the oil issue going. Even when the black gold was struck, he did not stop there but pleaded with the Kosmos Group to expedite action on the preliminary work so extraction date could be brought back. At the time Kosmos struck gold, little did its management foresee a fracas taking place between it and the Ghanaian government, but this is exactly what is happening. Kosmos was hailed and held in high esteem by the average Ghanaians, they still do so anyway, for performing a feat which eluded many others including the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). Today, however, they are the villains fit for the gallows, according to President John Evans Atta Mills� government. Even before the first barrel of oil leaves the shores of Ghana, there is already an avoidable ado over the black gold. Government is engaging in all manner of arm-twisting tactics, with a view to having its way in an issue which is shrouded in legal technicalities. Politicians are not only peculiar when they are in power but tend to behave without circumspection. Otherwise, why would President Mills ignore international business norms and engage in worst practices such as almost revoking deals entered into by a duly elected government of the country. When governments stretch personal vendetta to such levels; our underbelly is exposed, without cover, to international ridicule. The sore inflicted on the image of the country by the Vodafone issue has not healed yet and we doubt if it would do so anytime soon. For us to be saddled with another breach of international business convention by a government led by a former law teacher of the caliber of President Mills, is to state the least mind boggling. Just where are we going in this country? Someone wondered rather loudly on air a couple of days ago whether the oil extraction would take place at all, given the preceding rancour, assets seizure et al. We plead with President Mills, if what is happening is within his purview, to step in and prevent the country from falling off the precipice. We have come too far to allow the settling of personal scores to thwart our final leap into the prosperity of oil production. We do not pray to see the oil boom turn into a curse but when such cheap and nonsensical approaches are the paths we choose to tread on, we could be inflicting a deep wound on the image of the country. Imagine dumping an Exxon Mobil majority takeover for a Chinese team. What is informing such a decision? Have we done adequate due diligence before starting the arm-twisting of Kosmos Group? God save us.