Ensure transparency, accountability in petroleum revenue use – PIAC urges journalists.

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has urged journalists in the Savannah Region to use their editorial platforms to promote transparency and accountability in the management and use of petroleum revenues.

Madam Sena Dake, Institute of Chartered Accountant Ghana (ICAG) representative ,spoke at a media engagement on the management and use of petroleum revenues in the country at Damongo in the West Gonja District in the Savannah Region on Monday.

It formed part of an outreach programme and community engagement by PIAC in the area.

The participants were briefed on matters related to the operations of PIAC and its interventions in the area, as well as how the committee could collaborate with the media going forward.

As established under Section 51 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), PIAC, Sena Dake said, served as a unique citizen-led statutory body tasked with additional public oversight responsibility to support the work of Parliament over the collection, allocation and utilisation of petroleum revenues.

She said PIAC’s roles included oversight and monitoring, accountability, advocacy, public engagement and policy recommendations, adding that the committee was mandated to publish two reports annually—an annual report and a semi-annual report based on the collection, collation, reconciliation and analysis of production and revenue data from relevant stakeholder institutions.

Touching on the role of the media to enhance accountability in the management of petroleum revenues, she called on journalists to engage more closely with PIAC to report on the committee’s findings and recommendations to keep the public informed and also hold public officials accountable.

She said this would ensure that the country’s petroleum revenues were managed effectively and transparently to benefit both current and future generations.

She reiterated PIAC’s recommendation that the selection of the annual budget funding amount (ABFA) should be guided by a long-term national development plan approved by Parliament in conformity with the Act.

According to her,PIAC will independently inspect projects that funds are from the petroleum revenue to be able to finalize their validation exercise in the region.

Source:Diwura Abdul Fataw

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