THE GULF IS WIDENING

Inequality in the Ghanaian Economy is Getting Worse ...... and it Poses a lot of danger The 2008 edition of the Human Development Report gave some interesting illuminations on the direction Ghana is heading in its socio-economic development. One of the most critical concerns thrown up by the Index was the level of income inequality that characteristic the Ghanaian Economy. The non-redistributive growth we have had over the last 8 years have continued and even worsen. The HDI only confirms in scintific terms what we experince and notice arround us everyday in the streets and in the sqaulid villages and impoverished communities around the country.

GHANA'S CRUDE FIND

How we intend to be Different

Oil is the most popular game in town. Over the last few weeks Ghana's media and public space has been inundated with a lot of oil talk. the topic is not about how we are going to cope in the face of the rise in crude prices to historical levels over the last few weeks, but the talk is all about the massive revenue that will accrue to this country in the coming years.

All these talk comes in the wake of further oil finds in Ghana's offshore oil block that will enable Ghana to produce the "black gold" in commercial quantities. The experts tell us that we have discovered about 3 billion barrels of oil .

This discovery has brought some unheralded excitement into the country with the over bloated government PR machinery over hyping and fanning the oil frenzy. If you just dropped from mars , you will think that this is the first time any mineral of any sort is being found in Ghana and that every Ghanaian will become a million dollars richer within the next hour. The hope of Ghanaians who are naturally optimistic has been raised to a very high level.

I feel happy that we have finally gotten our oil -it was only a matter of time before we discovered oil because our geology is no different from the one found along the west coast of Africa, stretching from Cote Divoire through Nigeria, Cameroon to Angola. I don't want to be a party spoiler or a killjoy but i cant help but be little bit skeptical. This is classic dejavu;we've been down this familiar road before and it did not take us where we wanted.Our experience with the exploitation of natural resources in this country is a bitter one and we(majority of Ghanaians) have been the worst for it. A trip to any gold producing area in Ghana is capable of making even the most hardhearted human weep.

The government tells us that this time things will be done differently. For this reason a huge and highly publicised Forum was organised where all the big and powerful in Ghanaian society were gathered to discuss how we can maximise the benefits of oil we have found. at the forum the people who ostensibly represented Ghanaian interests included the old politicians, minsters heads of Major corporations, Academicians and significantly "foreign experts". Conspicuously missing were representatives from the communities that will host the oil operations.This is typical of how we deal with such issues in this country;quintessential top-down approach.the foreign experts were drafted in to give advice on how best to exploit our resources........does this ring a bell? Its always been that way;white people come and tell us what to do when we have any challenge. That was the same way gold was handled and we ended up ceding control of our most valuable resource to white foreigners while we suffer the consequences of its exploitation.

At the forum it was resolved that Ghana will not go the way other oil producers have gone but rather we will make the oil discovery a blessing not a curse. I am waiting with baited breath for this to oil find to launch our country into a new face of development and economic justice. The beginning seems to be good and the prospects even better but without the proper monitoring and mass participation of the ordinary poor and powerless Ghanaian we will have to devote pages to write about our bitter disappointments 20 years down the line. this oil find is a potential good news but it is far from a done deal and much work needs to be done o make it a reality