Abstract
Since Ghana’s oil discovery in 2007, the question of how the resource will benet aected communities and who holds the responsibly is still a subject of debate. Will the benets be negotiated by local actors or will benets ow automatically from the state and oil companies? Guided by the actor-oriented theoretical foundation, the paper qualitatively examines how dierent actors have emerged in the Western Region of Ghana to negotiate for benets from the oil nd. Two qualitative case studies were conducted on sher folks and youth groups to examine the processes, dynamics and outcomes of their negotiations. The results show that disenfranchised youth and sher folks, who feel dispossessed of their livelihood, have resorted to social mobilisation and contentious political bargaining strategies to negotiate for their benefits and to channel their grievances. Alternative livelihoods, jobs for locals and improvement in social infrastructural development are the primary requests of the local actors. The paper concludes that local actors’ interests are varied and negotiations are largely unregulated. Local actors constantly accuse oil companies for not prioritising their needs. State coherent policies and structures to mediate the negotiation processes between local actors, companies and the state are therefore recommended to avoid violent conicts. Keywords : Local Actors, Negotiation, Local Benets, Oil and Gas, Ghana
Highlights
Since Ghana’s commercial oil discovery in 7 and subsequent production in, the local communities along the coast of the Western Region have remained expectant of benefits and commensurate compensation packages (Nkrumah, Aklorbortu & Suazo, 8; Bouten, Everaert, Van Liedekerke, De Moor, &Ghana Journal of Development Studies, Vol 16 (3)Christiaens, ; Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Ghana, ; Obeng-Odoom, ; Mohammed, Kpieta & Owusu-Sekyere, 4; Owusu, 4; Owusu & Boatemah, 4).several concerns have been raised by shing communities along the coast about how their livelihoods are endangered by restrictions imposed on their fishing activities and sea pollution resulting from oil exploration and production(Ackah-Baidoo, ; Mohammed et al, 4)
We present detail rendition of how the two actor groups are negotiating for bene ts from the oil and gas resources in the Western Region and the negotiation strategies they employ
The blame of the decline in yield of sh harvest on oil production has been contested by the oil companies, sher folks have constantly argued that their livelihoods are under threat
Summary
Christiaens, ; Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Ghana, ; Obeng-Odoom, ; Mohammed, Kpieta & Owusu-Sekyere, 4; Owusu, 4; Owusu & Boatemah, 4).several concerns have been raised by shing communities along the coast about how their livelihoods are endangered by restrictions imposed on their fishing activities and sea pollution resulting from oil exploration and production(Ackah-Baidoo, ; Mohammed et al, 4). According to Ackah-Baidoo ( ), sher folks have attributed the proliferation of strange sea weeds which are a ecting shing activities to oil production on the coast of Western Region. Some studies on the socio-economic impacts of the oil find in Ghana indicated high costs of housing and landed properties along the coast of Western Region due to immigration and commercial land acquisition for oil related infrastructure development due to oil exploitation in the region(Edem, ; Yalley & Ofori-Darko,. Local populations have often expected that the extraction of resources would not displace them from their traditional livelihood activities
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