28 opposition rioters nabbed in Zambia
Falling prices burst Ghana’s oil bubble
LUSAKA – Zambian police arrested 28 opposition supporters yesterday on suspicion of rioting and making petrol bombs, the latest sign of political tensions ahead of elections on August 11, a senior officer said.
The arrests came shortly after the election commission lifted a 10-day ban on campaigning imposed on some parts of the country to prevent violence.
Police confronted supporters of the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) as they destroyed ruling party campaign posters in Kasama, 850km north of Lusaka, Northern province police chief Bonnie Kapeso said.
Other opposition supporters who had camped at UPND vice-president Geoffrey Mwamba’s home then started throwing stones at police, damaging one vehicle.
“We were left with no option but to follow them after they retreated and hid inside the house. We broke the door and fished out the ring leaders,” Kapeso said. “We had to use teargas.”
Police found seven petrol bombs, she added. However, the UPND said in a statement that the alleged petrol bombs were only empty bottles.
President Edgar Lungu has been in power for just over a year after winning a ballot triggered by the death of his predecessor, Michael Sata. Lungu faces a strong challenge from UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema. – MILLS – In the depths of Ghana’s fiscal crisis in 2014 policy makers looked forward to a time when a new oil field would open to boost the economy.
That time has come, but there’s a catch: oil prices have halved since the project started.
The drop in the crude price to under $50 (R717) a barrel reduces the short-term boost to government revenue from the offshore Tweneboa-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) field at a moment of triumph for Tullow and its partners, who include Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
TEN should ramp up production to around 50 000 barrels per day (bpd) within weeks of coming on stream by the end of August.
“There is no way that, even with the new money from TEN, revenue in 2016 will hit what it was two years ago, unless something extraordinary happens with the oil price,” Benjamin Boakye, of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy, said.
Ghana, which also produces cocoa and gold, is following an IMF programme to restore fiscal balance and spur growth, which dropped to 3.9% in 2015 from 14.4% in 2011, a year after it began producing oil.
On Monday, the government said it had cut its forecast for 2016 GDP growth to 4.1% from a previous forecast of 5.4% due to lower export prices and irregular oil production. Oil output was halted between March and May at the offshore Jubilee field due to a breakdown on a production ship, and the country lost millions of dollars in revenue.
It has since restarted, producing far lower than the 120 000 bpd capacity, according to Alex Mould, chief executive of GNPC.
Optimism about the prospects for rapid economic progress soared when crude began to flow from Jubilee field in 2010.
But government figures show that revenue from Jubilee fell from $978-million (R14-billion) in 2014 to $396-million (R5.67-billion) the following year due to falling oil prices, forcing the government to revise its budget.
The hope is that TEN and the Offshore Cape Three Points field operated by Italy’s ENI, which is due to come on stream next year, will help offset the shortfall from Jubilee. –