By Donstance Koroma
The Leader of the main opposition party, All People’s Congress in the Sixth Parliament of the Second Republic of Sierra Leone, Hon. Abdul Kargbo, in his presentation on Tuesday 19th December , 2023 on the ratification of the petroleum license agreement for the exploration development and production of G-Blocks 53, 54, 55, 71 and 73 between the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone and F.A Oil Limited has put some critical comments about the foregoing ratification.
In his own comments, the opposition leader noted: “I have some concerns regardless of the good things that are contain in the agreement, he told the House of Parliament.
I have examined article 2, 17, 21, 22 of this agreement, it places responsibility on the licensee without clear provision for community involvement and benefits, and we all know that our people who are in areas that the activities will be under taken have to benefit from the said activities, because they have a third party hazardous conditions that do happen to them that reside within the locality.”
The absence of explicit provisions of the community development fund was not provided for in the agreement. he revealed.
“They should be able to point at developments these activities has brought to them but from this agreement Mr. Speaker, there is no way the locals can benefit and environmental protection measures for local communities also absence,” APC Leader continued.
He called on parliamentarians to give those relevant sections of the agreement a very serious consideration that locals benefit from mining operations within their localities.
Again, the agreement should have created a reboots framework for community engagement, I have come to the realization that much premium is not given to the community engagement, community engagement is one of the ways that one is able to create that good relationship between the committee and the mining company. Minority Leader lamented.
Government can’t develop all communities in the country, some communities should be develop with their God’s given natural resources they have as it is imperative for parliament to make it a point of duty to ensure that in the agreement these communities are develop , he requested.
Mr. Speaker, what I did is to make a comparative analysis about such agreement signed in Sierra Leone to other countries, he said.
When I compared this agreement with other countries in the Africa continent, I observed with progressive nature that it incorporate explicit clauses to ensure the involvement and benefit of communities, countries like Ghana and Nigeria have set example in ensuring that the percentage of revenue generated from the petroleum activities contributes to the community development fund, he said.
Even when the budget is taken to parliament, the legislator continued that, there are certain aspects of funding from the budget that are directly from petroleum areas, he noted.
The Governments of Nigeria and Ghana used revenue generated from petroleum to fund their budget, Hon. Kargbo disclosed.
Let me give you a typical example of Ghana, the petroleum industry generated about one billion four hundred and twenty million Ghana cedes and after the generation, they admitted that the petroleum sector alone generated the said amount, the MP trilled the well.
The leader further cited article 13 of the said agreement that deals with foreign exchange transactions, I have come to the realization that foreign exchange transactions in the petroleum license agreement is imperative that we strictly scrutinize the unrestricted used of foreign currencies in the petroleum industry , he said .
While we acknowledge necessity of licensees to freely utilized this once , we must ensure stringent quid lines to nation development priorities , we know for sure that one of the ways we fight against the exchange rate is to ensure that the country attract foreign direct investment and quit apart of some foreign direct investments it is good that we also scrutinize the use of foreign currency ,because am sure when those foreign currencies are available in the country , it will be very cheap to exchange to our local currencies , the Lawmaker advised.
He implore the House and government as a whole to lay emphasizes on the agreement because, he said it is expected to benefit the nation with pointers not only on people employee but also on the economy of the nation.
Mr. Speaker, Honorable Members, article 16 deals with information and report and it specifically talks about confidentiality, while confidentiality is paramount, he called to uphold accountability and transparency.
If the petroleum industry in Ghana was not transparent they would have not declared the huge sum they generated to the government from the industry and government will not have been able to source out funds for their priority areas , he said.
The burden on the ministry of finance will be too much if emphasis is not laid on other sources of income generation and to me petroleum is one valuable source, he stated.
“Even though I belief in confidentiality in this report, I also in this agreement want to uphold the principle of accountability and transparency and I want to also urged the government of Sierra Leone to establishe an independent body to oversee the formation of change preventing the misused and with holding of critical data of government and the licensee, most time what they present to government is quit differ from the reality” Hon. Abdul Kargbo.
So I want to urged that government has an independent body to monitor and if that happens, I am sure , the sector will generate huge some of revenue from the agreement, He said.
He said he is also of the strongest opinion that a nation can’t develop without foreign direct investment, but in as much under developed country like Sierra Leone is in desperate search of such investors, government should not lose consciousness of some of the critical aspects of the said agreement that is before the chamber of parliament.
The leader commented the government for bring such an agreement to parliament.
“To me this is a good thing for all of us Sierra Leoneans” Hon. A. Kargbo.
The MP lauded the fact that the said agreement will generate revenue for government noting that the agreement provides a framework for revenue to be generated through royalties and taxes that he said will contribute to the development of the nation .
So to me, if we have sources to generate revenue is a pulse, we are dealing with the budget and we notice that government is constrain in generating revenue, he disclosed.
We have seen in many instances that our expenditure far outweigh revenue generated, to me it’s imperative on us as a citizens to treat seriously where the country’s generate revenue with utmost seriousness , the lawmaker advised.
I also realized that the agreement allows the licensees to use public land wherever and I belief this public lands that will be use will bring development to the country, this is so because infrastructure cannot be demolish or taken back , Minority Leader said.
This agreement is deliberate and specific, Mr. Speaker, honorable members, it also has some health and social benefits, the MP highlighted.
He said the company should ensure that health, accident, pension and life insurances of the employees including foreign national contribute to the workforce.
We have our brothers that are on the field and some of them will be expose to hazardous conditions, he sighted.
“I have worked with multinational investment and I have seen how Sierra Leoneans that are involved in accidents, they have been dismissed with the back of the hand, but this agreement is critical and fundamental that clearly spells out how Sierra Leoneans and foreign nationals will be treated when once they are expose to hazardous conditions”, Hon. Abdul Kargbo.
