PIAC still under resourced

One year and counting and the Public Interest Accountability Committee, which was heralded worldwide for its creation and first report on the oil and gas industry in Ghana, still remains under resourced. The Committee that was inaugurated on September 15 2011 and began meeting the following month continues to be housed by the Revenue Watch Institute of Africa Regional Office in Accra till date. “The Committee has had to operate under very difficult conditions since the State has not provided any resources to it since its inception in September 2011. The Committee has relied thus far on an interim secretariat and funds provided by international organizations. One could boldly say that without the efforts of the Revenue Watch Institute Africa Regional Office the Committee would have been a still born Committee. Thanks to their initiative and support to the Committee, we were able to hold our inaugural meeting, elect our leadership, chart a work programme and implement our few activities. They kindly offered their offices as an interim secretariat, whilst formalities for establishing a permanent secretariat dragged on. Special mention is also made of GIZ (Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) who provided financial support to the Committee to implement our programme and activities, and without which the preparation of this very report would not have been possible,” PIAC lamented in its first report. According to Ishmael Edjekumhene, a member of the PIAC, the Committee needs to get to the ground to ascertain the facts and figures but is constrained by lack of logistics in fulfilling its mandate. While the country strives to make progress in its local content aspirations to ensure that Ghanaians benefits immensely from its oil production, currently, there is no independent confirmation of facts and figures put in the public domain by the international oil companies operating in the country such as Tullow and Kosmos on the revenue accrued from the numerous oil lifting and also the number of Ghanaians employed directly and indirectly by the industry. Tullow for instance asserts that they spent $259m with local suppliers in 2009 and 2010, used 750 local suppliers and placed 1653 contracts with local suppliers in 2009 and 2010. They further say that the company’s major contractors spent $120m in Ghana and 1100 Number of Ghanaians employed by Tullow’s major contractors. According to Tullow Local Content is the term given to their commitment to generate in country capability to support the long-term development of the emerging sector. They say it represents the opportunity to maximise the use of Ghanaian goods and services, promote real and effective partnerships. However there is no independent confirmation of these figures and facts. Information from both the GNPC and Ghana’s Ministry of Energy on this matter is also not forth coming. A questionnaire sent to these institutions has gone unanswered. The PIAC could not independently confirm the figures being put out there in the public domain by the oil companies. This is as a result of the lack of funding and logistics. At the time of filing this report, the PIAC does not have a full website and a Programmes Co-ordinator. The PIAC is established under Section 51 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (Act 815) with the following objectives; monitoring and evaluating compliance with the Act by the Government and other relevant institutions in the management and use of petroleum revenues; providing a platform for public debate on spending prospects of petroleum revenues in line with development priorities; and providing an independent assessment on the management and use of revenues. The Committee is mandated by the law to publish a semi-annual and an annual report by the 15th September and 15th March each year. This report issued in compliance with Act 815 contains the findings and recommendations of the Committee based on its assessment of the management of petroleum revenues in 2011. Mr Edjekumhene hinted that the Committee is working to secure financing for a working secretariat and for the implementation of its programmes and activities in 2012 and beyond.