By far the most exciting news item within the media during the past week was the new discovery of oil in Ghana, and in potentially commercial quantities.

It was the highly elated President, John Agyekum Kufuor, who formally broke the good news to his equally excited countrymen and women on Monday June 18, 2007 in Accra.

For years, the results of oil exploration in Ghana had been playing a hide-and-seek game with previous governments and the Ghanaian population at large. One has not forgotten about the bizarre incident just a couple of years ago, when a sizeable quantity of crude oil from the Saltpond fields mysteriously found its way to Nigeria, without official authorisation. The press and the electronic media in Ghana and elsewhere discussed this conundrum for days on end as to the whys and wherefores of the rather strange disappearance.

Eventually, whether the ship travelled by sea or by air to Nigeria, it was ordered to make an about-turn and bring the crude oil back to Ghana. After this, one did not hear much from the Ghanaian media as to how the riddle was amicably solved. And that is how the bubble burst.

Several years before this incident, during the time of Mr. R. R. Amponsah as Minister in Charge of oil exploration, there had been a discovery of crude oil in the same area, I believe. Ghanaians were extremely happy about it and the press and electronic media made all the noise they could about it. In fact, a bottled sample of the crude oil is reported to have been put on exhibition or display in a big hall at the then Accra Sports Stadium.

Decades passed and the expected oil and economic boom never happened. One is, therefore, hoping that this time round, the discovery will be in large commercial quantities for both local use and for export.

On Tuesday 19/6/07, virtually all the newspapers, radio and TV stations in Ghana made the new discovery their number one news items, and rightly so. Crude oil has been dribbling Ghanaians for far too long, and one hopes that this time, it is for real, God willing.

A consortium of American explorers under the company name "Cosmos Energy’, is said to be the lucky ones who have made this latest and most promising discovery. Perhaps, it is too early to give precise figures as to how large the oil-find is, and how many years it will last, according to resource persons on the radio and TV stations.

The Country Manager of Cosmos Energy, Mr. George Owusu, who was interviewed on some of the radio stations, was cautiously optimistic about the discovery which is said to be to the West of ‘Cape three points,’ just about 40 miles from Axim.

Judging from the reactions of Ghanaians from various walks of life, I do not believe that there is any genuine Ghanaian who is unhappy about the discovery. But, my brother, if you were hoping that politicians would not do politics with the discovery, then you deceive yourself and the truth is not in you. How else were the politicians going to score points?

Already, while expressing his happiness at the discovery, Prof Atta Mills expressed disappointment about what the President said while breaking the good news to Ghanaians. According to the Prof, the President allegedly said that the discovery of oil in commercial quantities has brought shame to the enemies, presumably the enemies of his party and government. The Prof was implying that if the President actually said that, then it was unfortunate.

On Tuesday June 19, 2007, when the Energy Minister, Kofi Adda, was addressing Parliament on the discovery, Radio and TV reporters said the Minister went to Parliament with two glass containers, one full of salt and the other one full of crude oil. And while speaking, Mr. Adda used the 2 bottles to stress a point, that during the PNDC and NDC eras, the GNPC was mining salt, instead of seriously engaging in oil exploration.

From live radio reports, the Minister’s action and words brought uproar and recrimination from the minority side of the House, forcing Mr. Speaker to call for order. He then advised the Minister, Kofi Adda, not to ‘provoke’ the minority members, which he accepted.

Calls to the radio stations were generally positive about the discover. But there were some including Kwesi Pratt, who said that it takes hundreds of years for portions of the earth’s crust to turn into crude oil for exploration.

They also said a lot of scientific preparatory work had already been done by the GNPC during the time of Mr. Tsatsu Tsikata. It was therefore not appropriate to give all the credit to one man or one government for the find.

Politic aside, every Ghanaian is happy at the discovery. We are all praying that this time round we shall be speaking in tonnes, not tongues.