Special topics
Ghana has made $3.4 billion so far from oil production since 2010 but with little to show for it, Dr Steve Manteaw, Chairman of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), has said.
The West African country began to pump its first commercial oil in 2010 after the discovery of the offshore Jubilee Field.
Oil was discovered in commercial quantity by the John Kufuor-led government in 2007.
But revenue from the commodity has not impacted the lives of Ghanaians, according to Dr Manteaw.
He told Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM on Wednesday, 11 April that: “Since 2010 when Ghana went into oil production in commercial quantities, as a country, we have made $3.4billion but ask Ghanaians whether they have felt the impact of the revenue accrued. Ghanaians haven’t felt the impact that much.”
On Tuesday, Dr Manteaw had said at a press conference in Accra that 50 per cent of oil-funded projects captured by the 2016 budget in the three regions up north were nonexistent.
He said: “Six projects were inspected in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions [and] the findings and observations were overwhelming with 50 per cent of the projects being nonexistent.”
“Over 50 per cent of school projects inspected showed signs of serious deterioration in less than three years after completion.”
Dr Manteaw told show host Forson that an investigation must be conducted into this matter and the appropriate sanctions meted out to persons who will be found culpable.
“People must be prosecuted for this after the investigations by the Auditor-General or the Special Prosecutor reveal wrong doing,” he said.
