The debate rages on as to whether we should begin eating our chicks before they are hatched.

Estate developers are complaining because they are not going to benefit from the massive housing construction which is going to take place in the country, since the contract is going to be undertaken by Koreans who have shown interest in buying off Kosmos.

Maybe the strategy is that let us get indebted to them, and if we are unable to pay, they take over the oil.

In reality, this is not the first time that a nation's resources have been spent ahead of the actual generation of monies.

The nation has always taken loans to service its developmental needs before the cocoa is harvested; a clear case of living from hand to mouth.

In the case of the cocoa, we are certain they will be harvested and sold, the smuggling not withstanding, but the same can not be said of the oil which is yet to be drilled. If anything goes awry, this nation would be entangled with a US$10 billion debt for future generations.

My biggest worry is that why has the government decided to mortgage the oil revenue to build houses which will be sold for as much as US$50,000 to those who have the money to buy, and not use the money to address deteriorating social infrastructure to improve the standard of living of the majority of the people of this country?

As I write, the heavy rainfall in the Western Region has further exposed the poor road network in this naturally endowed part of the country.

I am inviting Egya Atta to extend his door to door visits to the Western Region, to see things with his own eye(s). I challenge him to make a journey from Tarkwa to Bogoso, and back, by road.

Remember, these are major gold producing areas in the country. I would have wished to skip what I am going to say but I have to because some people are asking me what the New Patriotic Party did for the Western Region when it was in power. For nothing at all, the Agona-Ahanta –Tarkwa road was done under the NPP regime.

One of the worst Highway stretches in the region is the Tarkwa-Bogoso road, which takes travelers from Sekondi-Takoradi to Dunkwa-On-Offin, where I had my Secondary education, then through Obuasi and Kumasi.

I bet you, if Naadu Mills has to travel on that road with a pregnancy, Egya Atta is likely to lose a baby. Many of the feeder roads in the region have become difficult to traverse, even with the much fancied 4Wheel Drives.

The roads within Sekondi-Takoradi have been in their worst state for the past 15 years.

The Apremdo-Anagye by pass, one of the busy roads in the metropolis, is immotorable now, and potholes have developed in most of the roads within the business areas of the region.

The streetlights in the twin-city are all dead. Our health facilities, just like many of such throughout the country, need refurbishment. Schools are crying for facilities to help improve teaching and learning.

Potable water is a scarce commodity in the region, yet, the government finds it prudent to mortgage oil money to provide houses for the rich and the affluent in the society, rather than dealing with basic everyday problems that confront majority of the poor in the society.

Yes, I heard you say that housing is also a major need of the majority of the people. That is right, but for which group of people are we building the houses?

Houses that would be sold for US$50,000 cannot address the housing needs of the poor and homeless in our societies. Hey, let me tell you, those houses would end up being purchased by politicians and their cronies.

Those who do not need the houses would hijack them and rent them out at cut-throat prices to those who cannot afford to purchase them at $ 50,000, or better still, our kiths and kins in the Diaspora who have the dollar power.

Oh yes, the only time I would support the use of the taxpayers' money for construction of houses by the state is when they are meant for institutions like the Police Service, the Military, doctors and nurses and paramedics, and other allied institutions whose duties require that they are accommodated while in service. Has any one done a study to find out who the owners of the SSNIT houses were, or are?

They were taken over by people who did not need them, and rented out to those who needed them but did not have the right connections to access them.

The NPP also built some houses in almost all the regions, with the exception of the Western Region, whose resources, by and large, would go to finance the projects.

Again, if serious investigations are conducted, it is likely to come out that the houses which were completed were allocated to party people and the rich and powerful in the society.

For Egya Atta and his Plan 'B' and Team 'B' Ministers to decide to mortgage the oil resources for housing, which will benefit the rich and the affluent, when our roads, schools, hospitals, water and electricity provision are fast deteriorating, is one of the most visionless policies any government which prides itself of being a caring one, can take.

Does Egya Atta take the decisions himself, in the face of the revelations about his memory, sight and the rest?

And I want to plead with Parliament not to go ahead to approve this deal, particularly, Members of Parliament from the Western Region.

The nation at this stage cannot afford to mortgage our future for the benefit and comfort of a few well-connected in the society, while our infrastructure continues to tear apart. This is a Social Democratic government which cares for all.

Who are the all? How on earth are the poor farmers in the Sefwi area, whose food crops and cocoa get rotten on the farms because of poor roads, going to raise $50,000 to purchase the Korean houses?

How are the people in Ahanta West, Nzema East, Ellembelle and Jomoro, going to be beneficiaries of the projects whose payments have been guaranteed with funds from resources from their area? 

They need good roads, potable water for good health, good and well equipped schools for their kids, well equipped and professionally manned hospitals, even if they have to pay for it since the NHIS has collapsed, and electricity that is dependable and reliable; these are their major needs and not houses they cannot afford. A caring government or a deceptive government?        

I want to assure Egya Atta and his government that I am ready to organize the people of the region to embark on a major demonstration from one district to the other, to protest against this blatant disregard for the feeling and needs of our people.

In a region which can boast of only 15% of tarred feeder roads, we will not sit down for our resources to be mortgaged to meet the affluent taste of those who already have.

If Egya Atta can mortgage $10BILLION of oil money to accommodate the rich, what stops the government from mortgaging US$1billion to do our roads at least?

The insensitivity being displayed towards the Western Region is becoming insulting, and the whole nation must rise up and talk about it for the sake of our collective unity.

When it comes to job opportunities, our people are left out because somebody thinks that the oil industry is not like digging a trench and laying pipes, impliedly, that is the only thing we can do as Westerners. I will put out that gentleman's name very soon.

While we are setting up development funds elsewhere, those of us who produce the larger chunk of the nation's resources have nothing to talk about, by way of development fund. Wake up, sons and daughters of Western Region, and break yourselves free from this internal exploitation, all in the name of national unity.

Those who do not wish us well will always have excuses to keep us oppressed, exploited and denied; excuses which would be akin to using the tragic effect of segregation as an argument for its continuation. Prepare to free yourselves; no one would do that for us.

Assai, give me three drastic tots of mahogany bitters to cool my heart and keep the body warm, otherwise I would die of heat in the body and cold outside the body.

Do not forget that in future, they can mortgage your money for Whiskey and Cognac supplies, if you do not complain now.