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The executives of the Shaip Africa Foundation are furious with Quantum Terminal and Ghana Gas Company, accusing them of treating them unfairly and arbitrarily.
The initiative by Ghana Gas Company and Quantum Terminal to build a 20-bed health clinic at Aiyinase has been rejected by the organization.
Dr. Clement Clinton Blay, the CEO of the organization, asserts that despite all the potential negative impacts on the Nzemas caused by the exploitation of oil and gas at Atuabo, Nzemalands deserves the best and not the worse.
As part of their joint social obligations, Ghana Gas Company and Quantum Terminal turned the first sod on a $2.86 million, 20-bed health center for the Aiyinase village in the Western region.
At the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), a similar project supported by Ghana Gas will get underway with a 200-bed medical center.
Due to these factors, Dr. Clement Clinton Blay, CEO of the Shaip Africa Foundation, believed that it was dishonest and discriminatory for Ghana Gas Company to cut sod to support a 200-bed hospital at the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani.
He claimed that, at the very least, the good people of Aiyinase deserved to be rewarded with a 200-bed hospital in order to get a fair portion of the profits from the oil and gas located on their grounds.
This is because, Dr. Blay reveals to journalists that the 2022 population statistics of Aiyinasi community currently stood at about 11,000 considering over 30 surrounding communities to use the facility as a referral center adding up to over 50,000 beneficiaries as far as health issues in Aiyinase is concerned.
Dr. Blay said, it’s unfair for UENR which has a population less than 11,000 to Aiyinasi alone will benefit from a 200 bed whiles that of the people of Aiyinase is earmarked for 20 beds to serve as a referral center.
He said, looking at the statistics, the proposed 20-bed health center for the people of Aiyinase won’t be enough to ease the pressure on the only district hospital at Ekwei, thus, patients will still travel far to access certain secondary health care.
He said, Nzema is known to be the leading Oil and Gas producing community in Ghana but unfortunately, infrastructural development has eluded them for many years.
The chief executive officer mentioned that the lack of adequate school infrastructure, bad roads and environmental issues such as air pollution and other infrastructural facilities as some of the major challenges confronting the people of Aiyinase and the entire Nzemaland.
The group is therefore calling on Ghana Gas company and Quantum Terminal to increase the number of the health facility to avoid treating them with the outmost disrespect because the two companies are making elephantine profits on their lands.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com/Kaakyire Kwasi Afari
