Jinx or Jubilee: New oil booms test African democracies

Oil finds highlighting energy potential in Ghana and Uganda pose new challenges as the countries seek to avoid the “oil trap” that has left many producers mired in poverty and violence, experts say.

“Both countries have excellent stewardships, good governments with very strong ideas on how to avoid the so-called ‘curse of oil’ which has been experienced elsewhere in Africa,” assured Tim O’Hanlon of Tullow Oil, the European company which made the new discoveries.
He spoke to AFP on the sidelines of an energy conference in Cape Town last week where Ghana sought to assure participants it would not follow in the footsteps of Nigeria, Africa’s largest producer that is beset by corruption and unrest over its oil profits.

Ghana is one of Africa’s flagship democracies, highlighted by US President Barack Obama’s visit last weekend, but nearly 80 percent of its 23 million people live on under two dollars a day.

High public demands and the sudden influx of billions of dollars into government coffers will have to be managed carefully.

But Ghana is taking steps to prevent misuse of funds, said Alex Vines, head of the Africa programme at the Chatham House think-tank in London.

“A country like Ghana has an opportunity to draw lessons from the mistakes of others. There are fundamentals in Ghana that are promising,” Vines told AFP.

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