Founder of the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), Percival Kofi Akpaloo has stated that the government’s ‘Gold for Oil’ programme lacks originality.

In his opinion, the major issue facing the country is that the leaders have entrusted a lot of resources to foreigners which has led to their

control of the nation’s economy.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Friday, he referenced the Gold for Oil scheme launched by the Akufo-Addo-led administration as one of the factors that allows foreigners to control the economy, hence why he does not consider the initiative is novel.

“… Look at this thing that they talk about, they say novel gold for oil. Me, I don’t see any novelty in this. Because, you have oil and somebody is taking the oil outside this country to go and turn it into something, and then you go and buy the final product and bring it here, what stops you from negotiating with them so that you buy at least half of whatever they are exploring, and then sending them to the Tema Oil Refinery?”

When his host, Benjamin Akakpo asked whether he was aware of the state of the Tema Oil Refinery, he responded that whatever the issue was with the refinery could be fixed.

He said, “I don’t believe that if the thing is there idle… how much will it cost you to bring it to start producing? So please, just spend money, invest money there, turn it around, let the thing work, so that you don’t need to go and buy finished product from somewhere.”  

Mr. Akpaloo also emphasised the benefits of having crude oil in the country, claiming that a variety of by-products from crude oil could be produced and sold to help the country resolve its economic crisis. 

The politician also stated that the way to resolve the economic crisis facing Ghana was not dependent on cutting down on expenditures.

He stated that the solution to the country’s problem was to generate a lot of revenue.

Additionally, the leader of the LPG contended that the initiatives the government claims to be implementing to generate revenue, such as the e-VAT, were actually overburdening the citizens with taxes.

“We are rather killing the people in this country. We are overburdening them with taxes. That is why people are complaining in this country. 

“Create an avenue for everybody to contribute to the basket. Create an avenue whereby everybody—all able young men and women—will find something to do,” he insisted.