The former Deputy Minister of Energy John Jinapor has dismissed claims by Dr. Steve Manteaw, Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) that “50% of oil-money projects are missing.”
In a statement, Mr. Jinapor said the claims made in the report are completely false.
Dr. Manteaw addressing a news conference in Accra Tuesday said PIAC is compiling what he described as list of ‘Ghost projects’ and will soon call upon the Auditor General for further investigation.
According to him, an inspection by PIAC has revealed that oil funded projects in the three Northern Regions in 2016 are non-existent.
Speaking at the Tuesday Press Conference, Dr. Manteaw said: “Six projects were inspected in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions [and] the findings and observations were overwhelming with fifty percent of the projects being nonexistent.”
But in a reaction, Mr. Jinapor described his claims as false and very misleading.
He added “nowhere can this claim be found in the 2016 Public Interest and Accountability Report which was subsequently laid before parliament. It will therefore be erroneous to conclude that half of total petroleum revenues cannot be accounted for.”
Below is John Jinapor’s full statement
My attention has been drawn to reports in some sections of the media attributed to Dr. Steve Manteaw, chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC). The report is not just misleading, but a clear attempt to twist facts and to serve political parochial interest.
The said report quotes Dr Manteaw as saying “50% of oil-money projects are missing.”
The claims made in the report are false. The facts are as follows:
First of all, the point must be made abundantly clear that budgeted projects are contingent on realisation of projected revenues.
From the 2017 budget presented by the Finance Minister, total petroleum receipts in 2016 was 49.2% below target and the budget report confirms an amount of GH¢711.1 million realised against a budget target of GH¢1,400.8 million.
Some of these budgeted projects could not commence as planned due to huge revenue shortfalls.
• For the records, there are about 500 budgeted petroleum related projects in Ghana since production of Oil and Gas in 2011. The Public Interest and Accountability Committee as part of its mandate visited just 46 of these proposed project sites.
It’s therefore statistically impossible to conclude that 50% of oil revenues cannot be accounted for as reported by some media houses.
Ghana’s total petroleum lifting proceeds and other income from inception in August 2011 to the end of December 2017 amounted to US$3,982,530,000 out of which 41% was allocated to Annual Budget Funding Amount, 31% to the Ghana National Petroleum Cooperation and the remainder to the Heritage and stabilisation funds.
Moreover, nowhere can this claim be found in the 2016 Public Interest and Accountability Report which was subsequently laid before parliament.
It will therefore be erroneous to conclude that half of total petroleum revenues cannot be accounted for.
•We wish to assure Ghanaians of our commitment to transparency and accountability at all time.
Thank you.
John Jinapor
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
