Date: 7/8/2001 23:44:18 -0000
From: "Andrew Keili" <mes@sierratel.sl>
To: <leonenet@lists.umbc.edu>
Subject: THE OIL ISSUE REVISITED
There is now a general suspicion that the government may be stretching the truth on this oil issue. Official government edicts had been quite straightforward and unexceptionable until Ambassador Leigh's letter was leaked to the press. This letter and subsequent events would give one the impression there is something amiss.
Ambassador Leigh's letter brought some very important aspects of this oil business to the fore. The first relates to the transparency of the process through which TPS/NOPEG was chosen. Is it in fact true that Grynberg had made overtures to the Mineral Resources Ministry which were rebuffed? Did the Sierra Leone Government try to contact other groups for an expression of interest in this process? Did the government make a unilateral decision to go solely to TPS/NOPEG?

The second relates to why the government kept details of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with TPS/NOPEG under wraps. If it was a straightforward MOU, why was the public not informed? Why wait till Ambassador Leigh leaks details before defending it?  

The third issue is about the fairness of the agreement. No investor is a philanthropist and in such operations, especially where the government does not have to pay a penny upfront, the investor would be taking considerable risks. Such transactions are not however new and other countries must have gone down this route. Why does not the government or its detractors on this issue not tell us about comparable transactions in other countries? What is normally included in such an MOU? What concessions are made to the investor? What is the normal charge per area in which the seismic studies are carried out? What special incentives are normally given? The government says the terms are normal. Its detractors say they are not. Who is right?

The fourth, and a very important issue relates to the track record of the investor, the independence of the adviser and in this instance the track record of the adviser. TPS/NOPEG may be a small company but that should not stop it from dabbling into this sort of business . Small companies like this usually take these risks and if they could hit the jackpot will end up making a lot of money by helping to attract larger groups. What is worrying is the less than flattering comments that have been made about TPS/NOPEG and about the adviser Safi's unreliability and his purported links to criminal elements outside this country. The government has not refuted these allegations convincingly. The accusation is also made that Safi, the official government adviser on oil was recommended by TPS/NOPEG. If this is true this is a conflict of interest situation which the government should never have allowed.

Meanwhile another very worrying aspect of the whole issue is the issue of leaks. It appears there are top people in government fighting each other and that the govertnment has been economical wit the truth. Who leaked the confidential letter written by Ambassador Leigh to the President? Why was it done? Was it to embarrass the President? Was it meant to embarrass Leigh and probably put paid to any political ambitions he may have? Was it someone angry at the fact that the Mineral Resources Ministry was being sidelined on the oil issue? Who sponsored the negative articles written about Leigh in some of the government- supporting tabloids? Last week, letters written by the Mineral Resources Ministry and Greenberg, the American company mentioned in Leigh's letter appeared in a newspaper. If these letters are authentic it appears Greenberg was not interested in Sierra Leone's oil in the first place, had even mistaken Sierra Leone for Saint Lucia and that the Mineral Resources  Ministry had behaved professionally in its dealings with Greenberg. The questions then arise-Were these authentic letters from the Mineral Resources Ministry? Who gave permission for them to be released now? What was the motive behind the leak?

The more one knows about this oil issue the more you get the impression the whole truth has not been told. The government should seriously discuss these issues, look at all the points raised by its detractors one by one and then come up with rational, sensible answers that the public will understand. Until the whole truth is told we will always suspect that there is something sinister about this whole oil business.  

Andrew Keili   < See also>