Former Energy Minister Joseph Kofi Adda has described the Mahama-led administration’s decision to mortgage Ghana’s oil revenue for 20 years as “thievery, irresponsible leadership, and sheer recklessness”.

His comments follow a statement made by the founder and General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Dr Mensa Otabil, that the decision was unwise.

Dr Otabil made the comment on Sunday, April 17 while teaching his congregation about the need for people to “reinvest” in their businesses in times of abundance.

Mr Kofi Adda, in an interview with Class News, said the move was a mark of irresponsible leadership by President Mahama.

“Otabil was trying to let us understand that we have to be responsible, we have to be proactive, and we have to be frugal in what we do,” he stated.

“Learning from other countries, which have done it well, especially Norway, we could have done it better and indeed under the Kufuor administration, when I was the Minister of Energy, shortly after we discovered the oil, we tried to get some materials from the Norwegians and we initiated some exchange programmes and study tour.

“Simply put, what we needed to have done was to consolidate the gains that we made in there and make sure we manage our resources very well and be modest in terms of how we borrow and how we undertake projects that will pay off and yield dividends to support us.

“We have gone ahead to mortgage our resources, something that the Norwegians preached against. And I will be honest to tell the whole nation that some of the NDC MPs were very honest and came to us telling us not to give in to mortgaging our oil in terms of the bill we were going to pass – the Petroleum Revenue Management Law – but for the government to come around and go to mortgage the oil before it even came out of the ground was really irresponsible, reckless and puts us in a very serious exposure and that is what we are facing now and that is what Otabil said.”