Oil and Democracy in Ghana: A Discursive Interpretation

On a global scale, it appears most oil resource rich countries affected by the resource curse are African countries with most of the countries that have been able to utilise their resources for developmental gains found either in Europe like Norway and Russia or the Middle East and others like Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, United States of America (USA) and China. The interesting observation is that almost all the oil-rich states in the Middle East are rentier states and have their democracies questioned with most scholars attributing the phenomenon to the presence of oil. Following this discovery, Ghana has witnessed public discussions on oil revenues, what they should be used for, and if Ghana will escape the 'Resource Curse'? Adopting the qualitative research approach, with sources of data from published articles and other internet sources, the study reveals that oil rents serve as a support system for Ghana's economy. It is also clear that oil rents constitute a minute percentage of the overall revenue the government of Ghana accrues annually, especially when compared to revenue coming from taxes. This indicates that Ghana's dependence on oil is insignificant compared to states in the Arab world such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Qatar. The study further reveals and concludes that the presence of robust institutions, strong civil groups, a dazzling political system, uncensored media outlets and the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), have served as a backbone to democratic consolidation in Ghana and also continue to serve as stumbling block to any attempt to hamper Ghana's democracy due to oil rents.