Ghost Oil-Funded Projects: MoF backs PIAC

Officials from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) have done an independent inspection of oil-funded projects in the Northern Region and have confirmed an earlier assertion by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) that half of those projects are non-existent, Dr Steve Manteaw, has said.

Last week, the Steve Manteaw-led PIAC released a report which indicated that 50 per cent of those projects cannot be found.

Dr Manteaw said at a press conference in Accra that: “In 2016, we wrote to the Ministry of Finance requesting for the list of projects that have been funded with the oil cash in the country. The Ministry, accordingly replied our letter and provided the list.

“We went to the Northern Region to inspect the projects only to find out that out of the six projects, half of them were non-existent. We then wrote to the Ministry again informing them of our findings but they failed to respond.”

The Ministry of Finance, according to Dr Manteaw, undertook its own inspection tour of the projects following PIAC’s revelation and confirmed same, he told ClassFMonline.com in an interview on Tuesday, 17 April.

“Information reaching me indicates that the ministry has gone on project inspection and have confirmed what PIAC has said, but they are yet to put the report out there,” he added.