US$655m oil cash "vanished into thin air" under Akufo-Addo – Minority

The Minority in Parliament has said US$655 million of Ghana’s oil revenue can still not be accounted for by the Akufo-Addo administration, per reports by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) reports of 2017 and 2018.

In a presentation on Ghana’s oil sector by a Deputy Power Minister in the erstwhile Mahama administration, Mr John Jinapor said: “Now, if you look at the PIAC report, it makes it clear that there is a lack of transparency and accountability within the oil sector, in terms of accounting for our oil revenue”.

For instance, he said: “During President Mahama’s time, we followed the Public Financial Management Act and spent a chunk of that money on physical infrastructural projects that come under capital projects but under Akufo-Addo, they are spending less than 50 per cent of petroleum resources on capital expenditure.

“Equally, the PIAC report of 2017 and 2018 – and this is a public document – state categorically that US$655 million cannot be accounted for between 2017 and 2018”, Mr Jinapor said at a forum in Accra on Wednesday, 12 February 2020.

“What it means”, he noted, “is that US$655 million of the taxpayers’ money has vanished into thin air”, adding: “This is unfortunate”.

“We’ve raised it on the floor, we’ve demanded answers and yet this government is evasive when it comes to this”.