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sharing in governance of extractive industries

Ahmed Finoh
  • Male
  • Durham, NC
  • United States
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A blog post by Ahmed Finoh was featured

The Transparency that Africa Really Needs

                                                                                                                                Old folks among a disappearing tribe tucked in the marshy lands of the upper reaches of the Niger river in what is now the Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea,  had an adage that goes thus; if you want to show a man how ugly he is you need to put a mirror to his face. The problem is, these people had never had a mirror or what was then referred to as a looking glass.…See More
May 10
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Ahmed Finoh posted a blog post

The Transparency that Africa Really Needs

                                                                                                                                Old folks among a disappearing tribe tucked in the marshy lands of the upper reaches of the Niger river in what is now the Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea,  had an adage that goes thus; if you want to show a man how ugly he is you need to put a mirror to his face. The problem is, these people had never had a mirror or what was then referred to as a looking glass.…See More
May 9
0 Comments
Ahmed Finoh replied to Jim Bennett's discussion 'GIZ publication on Results chains in resource governance'
"Jana: Thanks. I will send back my thoughts soonest on your comments. Eng. Ahmed Finoh, MPA"
Apr 20
Ahmed Finoh replied to Jim Bennett's discussion 'GIZ publication on Results chains in resource governance'
"                             ( ".......similar to a snake eating itself....")    Jim: Thanks…"
Apr 6
Ahmed Finoh commented on Candice Schibli's blog post 'For Oil Industry Transparency, Uganda Should Look To Other African Countries*'
"  Elison: Thanks for the clarification. Now we have begun hearing the African perspectives, on what is going on on the ground in Africa from the REAL stakeholders on the mineral issues. It is very refreshing to read an unimotional take on an…"
Apr 6
Ahmed Finoh left a comment for Eva T. Thorne
"Eva, I am not studying anything. I am jsut a neo-africanologist and pondering: how come? Eng. Ahmed Finoh, MPA  "
Jan 31
Eva T. Thorne left a comment for Ahmed Finoh
"Hi! Thanks for your note.  My work in Sierra Leone was around petroleum and governance of the sector.  I did some training/capacity building with MPs and some members of the Cabinet.  Good stuff!  What are you studying?"
Jan 30
Ahmed Finoh left a comment for James Viray
"Eva: excited to read you also did some work in Sierra Leone. Most of the guys running the Sierra Leone Mining Ministry were either my engineering school classmates or mining engineer budies way back in those innocent years. What was the nature of…"
Jan 23
Kari Lipschutz left a comment for Ahmed Finoh
"Thank you for your note, Finoh. In fact, I plan on doing something very similar to what you suggest in your comment. I will certainly be using political economy analysis as a primary tool in my work. Further, I am considering a few case studies…"
Jan 23
Ahmed Finoh left a comment for Kari Lipschutz
"Kari: I wish you can re-orient your research study, in consultation with your faculty advisor, to consider the natural resource curse as a product of the political economy. The legal perspective for why in Africa, natural resources are a curse is a…"
Jan 21
Ahmed Finoh commented on Julia Mensah's video
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GOXI Innovation Series - Pioneering a New Gold Standard: Innovative Approaches for Creating Social and Commercial Value in the Extractives Industry

"Is anyone listening? Democrats should use the opening sentences in this video presentation by Prof. Marty Anderson to remind us about how things stay the same even though they appear to change. Compare prof. Anderson's statement on what would…"
Jan 21
Julia Mensah and Ahmed Finoh are now friends
Jan 21
Ahmed Finoh commented on Julia Mensah's video
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GOXI Inovation Series: Negotiating the Marcellus Part 2

"Another excellent presentation exemplyfing  how third parties-nonstakeholders are equally vital in the natural resource management process. Here, academia steps up as an outreach agent to facilitate the contract process by purely being…"
Jan 21
Ahmed Finoh commented on Julia Mensah's video
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GOXI Inovation Series: Negotiating the Marcellus Part 1

"Excellent presentation. You see, local communities can wield tremendous power by forming a group and partnering with the other stakeholders: the local/state government and the corporation. What we see in  mainly Africa is the misguided…"
Jan 21
Ahmed Finoh commented on Zara Rahman's blog post 'How not to address gender inequality in the oil sector'
"Here Zara Rahman represents the faces of disillusioment of the neo-gender equality feministas. They would want women to be seen working in the mining industry which is a very dangerous working environment that is mostly suitable for men but do not…"
Jan 10
Ahmed Finoh commented on Richard Humphries's blog post 'Mozambique: policy issues for minerals sector exploration, beneficiation'
"The problem often seen with these policy recommendations is that they are heavy on platitudes ratrher than specifics. For example, how much control is "is a degree of direct state control over mineral resource development ( as in the USA, etc)…"
Dec 7, 2011

Profile Information

Organisation
university
Type of Organisation
Academia
About My Work
internaional development
Areas of interest
diamonds, oil and natural gas, governance and anti-corruption, environment, redistribution and sustainable development

Ahmed Finoh's Blog

The Transparency that Africa Really Needs

                                                                          

                                                      

Old folks among a disappearing tribe tucked in the marshy lands of the upper reaches of the Niger river in what is now the Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea,  had an adage that goes thus; if you want to show a man how ugly he is you need to put a mirror to his face. The problem is, these people had never had a mirror or what was then referred to as a…

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Posted on May 9, 2012 at 6:49

To Those Doomsday Alarmists for the new Republic of South Sudan

It seems like everywhere one turns there are those forecasting the soon demise of the newest nation and Africa's 54th country. There are those who have become experts overnight on everything that will go wrong for the South Sudanese. One blogger on another site even wrote independence for South Sudan within quotation marks. Meaning of course the unreality of this evolving phenomenon, which has become an independent country of South Sudan.

The making of a nation,…

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Posted on July 11, 2011 at 10:00

Socio-Economic Benefits of Mining ?

I have just read this report of the socio-economic benefits of mining in the Lao PDR and wondering why has such a scenario not yet been benchmarked any where in Africa.

Rather one reads about natural resources being a "curse" on the African continent.

Which is true as evidenced by the 10 year Charles Taylor diamond war in Sierra Leone, West Africa and ofcourse the continuing conflicts in the great lakes region of the continent.

WHY?

Is it the absence of…

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Posted on June 29, 2011 at 9:00 — 4 Comments

Comment Wall (21 comments)

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At 18:56 on January 30, 2012, Eva T. Thorne said…

Hi! Thanks for your note.  My work in Sierra Leone was around petroleum and governance of the sector.  I did some training/capacity building with MPs and some members of the Cabinet.  Good stuff!  What are you studying?

At 11:23 on January 23, 2012, Kari Lipschutz said…

Thank you for your note, Finoh. In fact, I plan on doing something very similar to what you suggest in your comment. I will certainly be using political economy analysis as a primary tool in my work. Further, I am considering a few case studies (Nigeria included) that I think will provide a nice diverse selection. I look forward to sharing updates as the research design progresses.

At 21:21 on December 6, 2011, Joao Nolasco said…

Dear Ahmed,

 

Sorry for getting back to you only now but I have been away from GOXI for a while. Project financing in Africa's PPPs is a world of issues. Please send me an e-mail with your questions and maybe we can start a good conversation.

 

Joao Nolasco,

j.nolasco@afdb.org

At 12:01 on October 5, 2011, Seth Odame said…
AM also happy to have you my network.
At 11:38 on October 3, 2011, Seth Odame said…
You are right Ahmed because until Ghana discovered oil previous government has concentrated on other sectors of the country especially agriculture but now most of the attention has been shifted to the oil but we have agriculture creating jobs for 60% of the population. Our leaders aught to look at some of this things cos now most graduate from the universities are all looking forward to working in the oil industry leaving the field for which they where trained in.
At 12:47 on July 8, 2011, Elison Karuhanga said…
Also we need to invest in our own centres of learning. Norway, the UK, King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minreals, France, the USA many major producing or consuming countries have excellent world class universities researching, teaching and learning abt natural resources. African countries should attempt to get quality schools teaching this kind of thing as well. in order to benefit from natural resources we need power over them. and knoweldge is power. so we should invest in knoweldge. (please forgive my previous post. it was full of typos. I only hope it was coherent)
At 12:42 on July 8, 2011, Elison Karuhanga said…

Kobina,

Africans in a sense are building capacity. some have suggested interesting ways of handling this "local content" issue. one writer has suggested a data bank of African oil professionals in their home countries. this pool of people known and identified can then be trained properly and used efficiently both in public and private sectors. many of the graduates return to the work force and got lost in other ventures..so one particular writer suggests a data bank. lets know the people who know something. NOCs(National Oil Companies) like CNOOC(from China) and Saudi Armaco (Saudi Arabia) are known to attend job fairs at the biggest universities to seek out and offer internships to their students and the opportunity for employment. African NOCs need to join the club of talent searchers. then a proper human development policy, sharing of personnel and technology among states. then the focus also shdnt just be on the geological aspects but on training economists, lawyers and managers 4  proper policy etc. there was good article by the scholary Bede Nwete on this some time back.  

At 16:43 on July 7, 2011, Kobina Aidoo said…
Interesting discussion, gentlemen.

To Elison's point, I too believe that building our own capacity is essential for reasons already mentioned as well as the potential spillover. I question the social and economic sustainability of the model of simply using the rent to pacify the people without their deep engagement in the industry.

That said, how do we build the skills? The more relevant question, in my view, is how do we keep the skills we buid in the public sector from going to the private sector for better pay? Any ideas? (Frankly, it's hard to blame people who make the switch)
At 2:16 on July 6, 2011, Elison Karuhanga said…
Ahmed thank you for your response. Again I concur. Except that I do believe a form of technology transfer and "local content" is also essential (its certainly part of the leadership issue)..many of the oil sheikhdoms for example have the bulk of their oil in the hands of national oil companies. if the entire energy chain has Africans playing a minimal role as investors, employees, marketeers etc of the crude then we are likely to see a complete repartiation of profits and capital flight. yet the need for the funds to be reinvested (or consumed) in Africa can not be overstated. but i concede that this is a micro point. the real macro point is the one u so rightly raise. the need for clear headed leadership. but as Africans we should seek knoweldge bse knoweldge is power.
At 16:23 on July 5, 2011, Elison Karuhanga said…
absolutley brilliant response! i agree entirely with u. the question then is how does Africa make herself ready? Africans should players in the entire energy chain..in the case of oil from bid preparation, negotiation of contraccts, exploration, oil field development and the marketing of crude. all these require expertise, long term investments and high technical and managerial ability. what can be done by policy makers to ensure that Africans obtain the necessarry skills and thus are able to use the industry to transform their societies?

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