Reinforce supervision mandate on Finance Ministry’s prolonged ABFA report - PIAC to Parliament

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has reiterated its call on Parliament to reinforce its supervision mandate on the Ministry of Finance.

This comes after the Ministry of Finance has for the fourth consecutive time failed to provide data on the half-year utilisation of the Annual Budget Fund Amount (ABFA).

According to a statement issued by PIAC with effect to its 2020 semi-annual report, “the failure on the part of the ministry is not only adversely affecting the work of the Committee, but also eroding gains in the fight for transparency and accountability in the management and use of Ghana’s petroleum revenues for the benefit of citizens”.

However, PIAC also urged Parliament to play a significant role with the Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) and Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) agreeing on a payment plan over the receipts from the Cash Waterfall Mechanism.

“This would ensure that GNPC receives payment for raw gas supplied and makes appropriate lodgments into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF). Although negotiations are ongoing between GNPC and the Contractor Party, PIAC recommends that a contingency amount should be set aside by the Corporation in anticipation of the eventual outcome of the dispute, as it could go either way,” the Committee said.

PIAC is the entity established by the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) 2011, (ACT 815) to have oversight responsibility over the management and utilization of Ghana’s petroleum revenues.