Nana Addo To Fall Back On Chinese Investments But�

Flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, has urged government to ensure revenues from the oil find are channeled to benefit the Ghanaian citizenry. He says the national oil pump should not be a haven for corruption but income derived from the pump should serve as a source of development to the economy. Nana Addo says the oil sector should not be entrusted into the hands of foreign investors and advises government to be wary of her activities with foreign investors whose interest is to exploit the nation�s oil find. He calls on government to lay down pragmatic steps to protect the oil industry and therefore fight against any foreign intrusion. Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking BBC� program Hardtalk today. He asserts government can ensure transparency and openness in activities that go on in the oil industry if it creates a petroleum account to house the oil revenues, because according to him, officials cannot be held responsible for the actions and inactions should the monies be put into the consolidated fund. Speaking on the 3 billion Chinese loan, he says the government should adequately negotiate with the Chinese government on better terms that will benefit the entire economy, expressing that his government will have no problem with and Chinese investment provided �we get value for money�.. �I don�t have any problem with that; what we have to be satisfied is that we get value for money in terms of these investments. There are serious questions about it; the way the loans were structured; we have continued to insist that much better negotiation could have taken place over the money and how it is spent�. �We welcome the interest of everybody in the development of the Ghanaian economy; how we handle that interest and how it plays in favour of the majority of our people- that is our concerns�, Nana Addo added. Asked by host Stephen Sucker if he would allow China and other foreign partners to build up a significant stake in Ghana�s oil industry if he were the President, Nana Addo answered, �absolutely�, however adding, �we will look at it on a case by case basis; we don�t want anybody to have a controlling stake in our oil. We don�t want anybody to have a controlling stake in our matters; we want the controlling stake to be in the hands of the Ghanaian�.