Deputy Energy Minister and Member of Parliament for Sekondi Constituency, Andrew Kofi Egyapa Mercer, has descended on the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and critics over the government’s Gold for Oil Program.
According to him, the misconception that people, especially the NDC have about the initiative is neither here nor there.
“The issues raised by the NDC on this policy are much-ado-about nothing. The gold for oil policy is taking out the element of dollar requirement for petroleum product importation. There is nothing wrong with the gold for oil policy and so why the ugly noises around this policy? They should just keep quiet,” he said.
Mr Mercer was speaking in an interview on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen Tuesday.
The Minister has come under fire after he revealed that Ghana purchased the oil with cash.
The NDC, including former President John Mahama, has said there is no transparency in the Gold for Oil policy agreement initiated by the government.
According to them, the deal is currently shrouded in complete secrecy with only government officials who are involved in the transaction knowing the details, describing the development as unacceptable.
But to Mr Mercer, the policy started with the intent to do strict barter for gold and petroleum products.
“It became apparent that any of the international oil trading companies that do not have a commodity wing to deal with gold on their behalf will be excluded from the policy,” he explained.
Mr Mercer noted the companies they dealt with initially did not have the capacity to exchange gold for oil.
“We developed the policy such that we were operating two streams, one was direct barter and the second was monetising the gold, so we can pay for IOTs that were not other commodity focused but solely petroleum products…so the test run that we did was actually paid through the second route,” he could.
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