General News of 2013-03-13

Investigate petroleum management fund - K.T . Hammond

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Adansi Asokwa constituency in Ashanti Region, Kwaku Tahir Hammond, is calling for investigations into the Petroleum Management Fund alleging it is being misused.
He has called on the Auditor General to initiate immediate investigations into the fund.
This is after revelations that government spent GHS120 million on capacity building.
Mr. Hammond, who made the demand on the floor of Parliament during the debate on the budget statement on Wednesday, is asking what exactly went into the capacity building and who benefited from it.
Speaking to Citi News Richard Sky, the former Deputy Energy Minister under the erstwhile Kufuor administration said: “I have read through the 2012 annual report of the petroleum management funds and what I am see there is scandalous; I’m not happy at all.”
According Mr. Hammond, details of the 2012 Petroleum Management Fund are contradictory.
“The law authorizes the Ministry Of Finance to invest the monies that are put into this account; of the 54 million dollars that was invested by the bank of Ghana, they boldly state that the return on that investment was four thousand dollars on 54 million investment. There was another investment of 14 million, BOG tells us that there was only 1000 dollars on the 14 million dollar investment," he said.