Building local content capacity in oil-rich countries is a right of citizens, says Gabby Otchere-Darko

Chairman of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce Guyana, Gabby Otchere-Darko, has stated that the building of local content capacity in every oil-rich nation must be seen as a fundamental right of the citizens of the country and not a favour.

He made the observation in his opening address at the two-day Ghana-Guyana Local Content and Capacity Building Conference held at the Marriott Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana, today 10th August 2023.

Local content, according to Mr Otchere-Darko, “is meaningless without the capacity of local players to deliver”. He further indicated, “without the capacity, the [local content] policy becomes but a frustrating fetter on the main business of pumping oil from the ground”.

“The lack of capacity should never be allowed to serve as a legitimate excuse against guaranteeing and deepening local participation. Indeed, if the current global focus on energy transition makes getting the oil out a matter of utmost urgency, then empowering locals to also transition into active participants in the upstream business is also a matter of utmost urgency.

“That is why, right from the onset, building capacity in local content in upstream oil and gas operations is, perhaps, the most important priority item for any oil-rich country that is serious about capturing and retaining locally as much as it possibly can of the value from its hydrocarbon resources,” Gabby Otchere-Darko said.

“For some of us, local content is a human right. It is a moral right. It is a social right. It is an economic right. It is a development right. It is a prosperity right. And perhaps, most importantly, it is right and proper for all and beneficial to all stakeholders. In other words, local content is good for the government. It is good for citizens. And, it is actually good for the international oil companies themselves, as well.

“So, it requires a deliberate affirmative policy action by the state. But it also requires balancing the needs of policymakers, regulators, the local private sector, local communities, IOCs, and the overall interest of the national economy,” Mr Otchere-Darko added.

Local content drive

Turning his attention to the rationale behind the Ghana-Guyana Local Content Conference, Otchere-Darko noted that after over 10-years of Ghana’s experience in the oil sector, players in the oil sector stand ready to support Guyana develop its local content portfolio.

“So, you may ask: why the Ghana-Guyana Local Content Conference? My simple answer will be: why not? Since 2015, unlike before, people are now actually mistaking Ghana for Guyana instead of Guyana for Ghana. You are big! In fact, bigger in many aspects, because of your newfound wealth.

“We were at where you are today sometime back. Three years after drawing first oil, we put in place our local content law. Over the last decade alone, with the proactive push of the Petroleum Commission, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation, and to some extent the Ghana National Gas Company, Ghana has managed to learn the hard way to build local companies that are now bidding and winning international tenders outside of Ghana,” Otchere-Darko said.

“We believe and we know that Guyana, with a more deliberate strategy, has an even greater potential to build much bigger global champions of Guyanese citizens than we have. The next Dangotes over the next two decades are likely to come from Guyana.

“You may be small in numbers, but not in landmass, not in raw wealth and, certainly not in affiliations, both old and renewed. Caricom has over 19 million people, South America nearly 450 million people, India 1.43 billion and Africa 1.46 billion. These are all markets linked to you through history, geography, blood, tears, and treaties,” Gabby Otchere-Darko remarked.

“We are here to share with you what we did right, where we went wrong, and to encourage you to do better. Ghana’s commitment to Guyana is, therefore, real, genuine, and sincere. We are not here to exploit. No. We come to share with you what we have learned; we come to listen to you, what you can teach us, and hopefully we can explore together the value we can each bring to our common table of interest,” he further stated.

Ghana and Guyana, in December 2021, signed a cooperation agreement, witnessed by Guyana’s Vice President, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo and Ghana’s Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.

Materializing cooperation

Mr Otchere-Darko noted that “before and since [the signing of the cooperation agreement] many things have happened, including the opening in May this year of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Guyana, which I am told is the only African chamber of commerce operating in the whole of the Caribbean”.

“Our being here today, is part of the real efforts we are putting in to materialize the cooperation agreement and we do so in deed and not just in words. Again, Ghana played some modest role in the crafting of the very law that has inspired today’s gathering, your Local Content Act.

“The intention of a local content law is to allow the country that owns the resource and her people to capture and retain as much value as they are willing to make practically possible within the local economy and to do so through local production, the supply of skills and goods, the offer of services and the conduct of activities along the value chain of the oil and gas resource,” the Chairman of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce Guyana, Gabby Otchere-Darko said.

“Your neighbours, Brazil and Trinidad & Tobago, never believed in enacting a specific law on local content measures. It may have worked for them. Guyana, on the other hand, has chosen to go the way of Ghana and a few others.

“Considering the infancy stages of Guyana’s hydrocarbon production, a local content conference of this nature where the main participants include a nation which has over a decade of experience in implementing and enforcing a local content legislation, we expect a richly-packed two days of insights, knowledge sharing, strategy exchanges, networking and partnership agreements occupying our time here,” he added.

The GCCG

The Ghana Chamber of Commerce Guyana was commissioned on Monday, 22nd May, 2023 in Queenstown, in the heart of Georgetown, Guyana, by Ghana’s Trade & Industry Minister, Kobina Tahir Hammond, MP, assisted by Guyana’s Minister for Public Works, Bishop Juan Edghill, MP.

The Ghana Chamber of Commerce has a primary mission of promoting trade, investment, human resource engagement, and economic cooperation between Ghana and the Caribbean, with Guyana being the focal hub.

A fundamental principle of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce is for the members to be deliberate in working in Guyana to build local capacity. The Chamber encourages joint ventures and other ways which ensure that Ghanaian entities operating in Guyana work in partnership with Guyanese companies.
This is to ensure that, at least, Ghanaian companies come to Guyana with value, to create value and share value with their Guyanese partners in a win–win arrangement.

The Chamber counts scores of major Ghanaian and international companies on its books in various areas, including Fintec, Finance, Oil & Gas, Mining, Power, Real Estate Development, Construction, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Waste Management, and Commodities Trading.

It specializes in linking contractors with funding and opportunities. With the ability to arrange very competitive funding, including ECA facilities, through its strategic partnership with ALA Strategic Consult and clients, the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Guyana, connects capital to opportunities.

The Chamber aims to help Guyanese companies build international partnerships with expertise and funding to help deliver on projects in Guyana. Being the first and only Africa-focused Chamber of Commerce in the Caribbean, the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Guyana, offers support to businesses from Africa, working in Guyana or seeking opportunities in Guyana.

GCCG also provides information on opportunities, offers advice on regulatory matters, market intelligence, and industry outlook, as well as organises workshops and training on industry knowledge and exchange programmes for skills transfer.

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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