The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has said it is not against the construction of the Atuabo Freeport but it is against the lack of transparency in the deal. The TUC is calling for a thorough review of the Atuabo Free Port Commercial Agreement between the government of Ghana and Lonrho.
This was revealed by the Secretary General of the Union, Kofi Asamoah. According to Mr. Asamoah, it is imperative for the government to review contract based on the concern raised over the control of the port.
Parliament in July ratified a commercial agreement between the government of Ghana, Lonrho Ports Ghana Limited and Atuabo free Port Company Limited for the facilitation of the Ghana Oil and Gas Free Port Project. Clause 7 of the said agreement bars Takoradi Port from further expanding its facilities for oil and gas until Lonrho has built its freeport, recovered all its cost, and made enough profit.
The agreement further bars all persons or companies from building any oil and gas port facilities in the entire Western Region until Lonrho has recovered its investment and made its profit.
As a result, some five Minority Legislators are praying the Sekondi High Court to remove the restriction government imposed on the further expansion of the Takoradi Port.
Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Kofi Asamoah said that prior to the approval of the agreement, the Union had been engaging the Parliamentary Select Committee to further assess certain sections of the agreement.
“We were quite surprised that the Parliamentary Select Committee did not listen to us and went ahead to approve the commercial agreement,” he said.
According to him, further checks by the Union’s legal team have revealed that there will be dire implications if the deal is allowed to go through.
“Several things are unclear as to how the funding arrangement would have to be done and that if in the future, even if the government of Ghana wants to do something, it could run itself into some legal wrangling,” he remarked.
Mr. Asamoah insisted that government must “have a second look at the whole project, find out the areas that are inimical…We are aware that Lonrho’s operations in Equatorial Guinea have also done a similar thing which we think should be able to check.
“We again think that the project will undermine national security and sovereignty,” he added.
