africatodayonline.blogspot.com -
Accra , Nov. 21 , GNA – The Ministry of Finance was asked to consider utilizing a dedicated account to receive the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) from the Petroleum Holding Fund at the Bank of Ghana to ensure that allocations from that account could be tracked to give meaning to transparency and accountability. The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) also urged the Ministry to publish a more detailed report on how the ABFA approved by Parliament was disbursed and also give more details of expenditure on Loan Repayment and Capacity Building in the report. "Parliament should take steps to review the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2011, (Act 815) and amend portions that are found to be ambiguous for better clarity to enhance implementation of the provisions. After three years of the coming into force of Act 815, the regulations that will help with the implementation of the law are long overdue," it added and urged the Ministry of Finance to expedite action on the drafting of the regulations for the approval of Parliament next year. Major George Ablorh-Quarcoo (rtd), Chairman of PIAC, who made the recommendation on Thursday at the launch of the 2012 Annual Report in Accra , said a section of the Act must be introduced to cater for the funding of the PIAC and the Petroleum Commission to enable them carry out their respective mandate as was done for the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation . He also called on the government to release the Policy Guidelines to assist the Fund managers to better manage these funds as required by the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2011, (Act 815). He said the report which was the third since its inauguration in September 2011 was expected to be launched in March this year but due to resource constraints, the committee was unable to do so until now. Major Ablorh-Quaicoo was grateful to Revenue Watch Institute , Africa Regional Office, GIZ, the World Bank , Oxfam USA and the TUC of Ghana for their support , encouragement and sponsorship. The PIAC is a statutory committee established under section 56 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2011 (Act 515) to monitor and evaluate compliance with the Act by the Government and other relevant institutions in the management and use of petroleum revenues. It is also to provide a platform for public debate on spending prospects of petroleum revenues in line with development priorities, and provide an independent assessment on the management and use of revenues. GNA
