Blows Over Jubilee Oil

The raging battle over who keeps watch over expected cash from Ghana’s Jubilee

Oil Field, who uses it and when, entered another phase over the weekend, with a

new entrant, Vice President John Mahama, throwing punches at opponents to

government’s attempt to amend the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill, in order to

allow for Government to collateralize the revenue for investment.

Referring to Clause 5 of the Bill, which forbid collateralizing the oil revenue,

The Vice President questioned the Minority, New Patriotic Party (NPP) for

supporting this clause, saying it did not make sense, and craving the indulgence

to borrow George Bush’s phrase, ‘that’s absolutely, excuse my language, George

Bush; Baloney!”

Mr. Mahama, who was addressing members of the Tertiary Educational Institutions

Network (TEIN) of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), explained that

the bill was drafted with assistance from the Norwegians, who had subsequently

clarified the point that they introduced the Heritage fund at a time they

already had their major infrastructure laid.

He called for support for the intended amendment in order to deal with Ghana’s

infrastructural deficit, which he said the World Bank had put at 1.6 billion

dollars annually, as it would be foolish to stash the money away even as the

country begged for infrastructural development such as roads.

The Bill which was introduced by the Government, had a dose of the World

Bank/International Monetary Fund (IMF) influence, which required in clause 5,

titled: Prohibited Use of Petroleum Account,that:

(1) The assets of the Petroleum Account shall not be used to provide credit to

the government, public agencies, private sector entities or any other person or

entity and shall not be used as collateral for debts or other liabilities of any

other entity.

(2) There shall not be any borrowing against petroleum reserves by government.

Already the VEEP has caught fire, as half-a-dozen of minority NPP members have

swiftly countered his argument, questioning its basis, since the controversial

clause was introduced to the House, in the first place, by the Executive.

Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Joseph Adda, MP for Navrongo Central,

K.T. Hammond, MP for Adansi West, Kennedy Adjepong, MP for Assin North, Dan

Botwe, MP for Okere Constituency have all described the Veep’s comments as

unwarranted.

In a sharp rebuttal on Monday, the Minority Leader questioned the basis for the

Vice President’s harsh words, since the original Bill before Parliament was

introduced by the Executive, of which the latter was a key part.

Dan Botwe also shared the same position, saying if the Veep’s position were to

be taken seriously, then the government was more deserving of the harsh words

since the clause in the original position he was criticizing was introduced by

Government.

Kennedy Adjepong described the Veep’s criticism of opponents to the proposed

amendment as a fallacy of Argumentum Ad Hominen (a situation where one attacked

the personality of his opponent rather than the issues involved in the

argument).

Mr. Kwame Jantuah, a member of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and also of a

civil society coalition on oil and gas, said there was no justification for

collateralizing the oil money, since the country would have continued with its

developmental programmes without oil money, anyway.

Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, a former Minister for Energy under the NPP regime and CPP

Presidential candidate for the 2008 elections would rather have 20% of the

revenue being set aside in the heritage fund instead of the proposed 10%.

He said the Norwegians and Americans have institutions that worked and therefore

there was no basis for comparing what pertained there with Ghana’s. Mr. Jantuah

said even though the oil revenue would give respite, “We shouldn’t use it to

collateralize any loan,” he emphasized, saying the money should be invested in

profitable developmental projects.”

Kwesi Pratt, a member of the Socialist Forum and Managing Editor of The Insight

newspaper, as well as Dr. Sam Mensah an investment consultant, on the other hand

have both described as unreasonable the stance against collateralizing the oil

revenue, considering the infrastructural deficit that confronts the nation.

DEBATE IN BORROWED TIME

Meanwhile, the tango between the Minority and majority over whether to

collateralize or not to collateralize the Jubilee oil cash in Parliament

continued fiercely on Monday, ending with the Minority Leader, calling for a

time-out in the form of postponement, to allow for further consultations.

The Minority leader’s call which was concurred by the majority leader, after

the two had disagreed over the proposed amendment, has left the Petroleum

Revenue Management Bill still hanging, with first oil scheduled to flow on

December 15, 2010. See Page 13 for the other sections of the Bill that deal

with the Oil Revenue Management. The Business Analyst

Page 13

Management of the Petroleum Reserve Accounts expenses

11.(1) The Bank of Ghana shall deduct reasonable management expenses from the

petroleum receipts of the Petroleum Reserve Account by direct debit.

(2)The deduction shall be in accordance with the best international practices

and as provided for in the Operations Management Agreement.

Allocations and disbursements

Establishment of the Stabilisation Fund

12. (1) There is hereby established the Stabilisation Fund

(2) The objects of the Stabilisation Fund are to

(a) cushion the impact on or sustain public expenditure capacity during periods

of revenue shortfalls whether caused by a fall in the petroleum price or through

production changes; and

(b) cushion the economy from the impact of unanticipated petroleum revenue

shocks and safeguard macroeconomic stability.

Establishment of the Heritage Fund

13. (1) There is hereby established the Heritage Fund.

(2) The object of the Heritage Fund is to use part of the savings as investment

to

(a) generate an alternate stream of income to support public expenditure in the

long run; and

(b) provide a heritage for future generations of citizens from savings derived

from excess revenue.

Funds in the Stabilisation and Heritage Funds

14. The funds in the Stabilisation and Heritage Fund collectively referred to

as the Petroleum Funds shall be denominated in United States Dollars or any

other convertible currency approved by the Minister for the sole purpose of

saving and investing part of the petroleum revenue.

Transfers and allocation into the Petroleum Funds

15. The transfers into the Petroleum Funds from 2011 shall be as follows:

(a) where petroleum revenues collected in each quarter exceed one-quarter of

the estimated annual budget funding amount of the financial year, as determined

by the allocation and disbursement formula from the Petroleum Account,, the

United States Dollar equivalent of the excess revenue shall be transferred from

the Petroleum Account to the Petroleum Funds;

(b) the transfer and any subsequent transfer shall be made no later than the

end of the month following the quarter in respect of which the excess revenue

was calculated; and

(c) A minimum of eighty percent of the aggregate of the excess revenue shall be

deposited into the Heritage Fund and the balance shall be deposited into the

Stabilisation Fund each financial year.

Outflows from the Stabilisation Fund

16. (1) Where the petroleum revenue collected in the first two quarters of each

financial year falls below one-half of the estimated annual budget funding

amount by at least ten percent for that financial year withdrawals may be made

from the Stabilisation Fund as follows, whichever is the lesser amount:

(a) either seventy-five percent of the estimated amount of the shortfall of

petroleum revenues for that year; or

(b) thirty percent of the balance standing to the credit of the Stabilisation

Fund at the beginning of that year.

(2) The amount withdrawn shall be deposited into the Consolidated Fund within

twenty-four hours after the withdrawal.

(3) Transfer out of the Stabilisation Fund shall only be done for the purpose

of alleviating shortfalls in the national revenue and in accordance with

subsection (1).

(4) The real rate of return from the Stabilisation Fund shall be treated as

part of the current year’s petroleum income in the First Schedule to determine

the Annual Budget Funding Amount.

Additions and withdrawals from the Heritage Fund

17. (1) Additions to the Heritage Fund shall be according to the rule specified

in section 15.

(2) Withdrawals from the Heritage Fund shall be according to the withdrawals

rule in section 20.

(3) The rate of return on investment from the Heritage Fund shall be treated as

part of the current year’s income in the First Schedule in determining the

Annual Budget Funding Amount.

Payments into the Petroleum Reserves Account

18. An obligation to make a payment into the Petroleum Account; the

Stabilisation Fund

or the Heritage Fund shall not be discharged until the entire amount has been

deposited, integrally and unconditionally, into the respective earmarked

receipts accounts.

Adjustments and reconciliations to petroleum reserves accounts

19. (1) No later than February 15th of each year, commencing 2012, the Minister

shall reconcile the actual total petroleum receipts and the estimated annual

budget funding amount of the immediate preceding year and shall submit a written

report to Parliament after audit by the Auditor-General. The report shall

include the following information:

(a) the annual budget funding amount for the immediately preceding two years;

(b) the estimated sustainable income for the current and immediately preceding

two years or calculated according to the Second Schedule;

(c) the actual inflows and outflows of the Petroleum Account for the current

year;

(d) the balance of actual receipts over the Annual Budget Funding Amount;

(e) recommendations for the reconciliations and adjustments needed to account

for any deviations so the

(i) inflows and outflows relating to the Petroleum Funds match the actuals of

the year;

(ii) Petroleum Account balance shall be reset to zero.

(2) The report shall be published in the Gazette and two state owned

newspapers, no later than March 1 of the same year.

Allocation and disbursement from the Petroleum Account

20. (1) Disbursement from the Petroleum Account shall only be made

(a) for fixed collection expenses;

(b) for management expenses of the Petroleum Reserve Account; and

(c) to the budget and the Petroleum Funds.

(2) No later than September 1st of each year, the Minister shall determine

(a) the benchmark revenue using the formula set out in the Second Schedule; and

(b) the estimated sustainable income according to the formula set out in the

Second Schedule.

(3) For the year 2010, the annual budget funding amount, the amount of

petroleum revenue to support the budget shall be what the Minister recommends

out of the 2010 petroleum receipts, if any.

(4) For the period 2011 to the year when there shall be no more petroleum

production, the annual budget funding amount shall be seventy percent of the

benchmark revenue as calculated and certified according to the First Schedule.

(5) From the year marking the end of crude oil production

(a) the annual budget funding amount from petroleum resources shall be equal to

the sum of royalties from gas operations, if any, corporate income tax on gas

commercialisation, dividends from the national oil company and the real income

or earnings on the Petroleum Funds as calculated and certified by …; and

(b) the income or earning on the Petroleum Funds shall be equivalent to the

real rate of return on the balance of the Petroleum Funds on December 31 of the

previous fiscal year.

Transfers from the Petroleum Account

21.(1) Transfer from the Petroleum Account to the Consolidated Fund for budget

funding shall be in quarterly installments of one-quarter of the annual budget

funding amount or as the Minister may recommend.

(2) The total amount withdrawn from the Petroleum Account for budget support

for any fiscal year shall not exceed the appropriation amount approved by

Parliament for that fiscal year in accordance with section 20.

(3) Transfers from the Petroleum Account by the Bank of Ghana in any fiscal

year shall only take place after publication of the budget in the Gazette

confirming the appropriation amount approved by Parliament for that fiscal year.

(4) The key decision parameters in the formulas in the First and Second Schedule

and for 2010 shall be reviewed every three years with the first review to occur

in 2014.

(5) The review shall be conducted by the Minister in consultation with the Bank

of Ghana and the Board.

(6) The review shall be subject to ratification by a resolution of Parliament

supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the members of Parliament.