Takoradi-Ghana, Dec. 19, GNA – The Friends of the Nation, an environmentally inclined Organisation has engaged stakeholders on advocacy strategies on tax accountability and Petroleum Revenue Management.
The engagement formed part of various programmes and interventions in the civil space to enlightened citizens to hold duty bearers accountable for revenue mobilized and public spending.
Mr Solomon Kusi, the Natural Resources Coordinator at Friends of the Nation said empowering citizens to use advocacy tools to demand accountability was necessary to save the country’s purse and accelerate socio-economic development.
He exposed participants to advocacy tools and how to effectively use them to promote participatory governance.
Mr Kenneth Kwame Kankam, a Project Manager of the Friends of the Nation educated the participants on the need to apply evidence based research to drum home their needs in the minds of duty bearers to derive the right responses.
“As opinion leaders and members of the society, every problem you identify must be thoroughly researched into to make valid and informed propositions to authorities.”
Similarly, Mr Eric Defor, the Communications Director of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee called on the citizens to keenly follow happenings in the petroleum sector.
He said, “our findings and recommendations on how the sector is performing are for you, the citizens and community leaders to take interest and ask your members of parliament for the appropriate answers.”
So far, the country had raked in 7.33 billion dollars in petroleum revenues from 2011 to 2021 and had been utilised in line with provisions of the Petroleum Management Act.
However, Mr Defor noted concerns such as non-existents projects, the capping on the Heritage fund, the need for criteria in selecting monumental projects as against thin spreading, and the need for comprehensive reporting templates.
He said, “Ghana could derive maximum benefits if the government is minded to implement recommendations made by the PIAC as a citizen led oversight body established by law.”
Dr Gideon Ofosu-Peasah, who spoke on “Understanding Energy Transition,” prayed for the proper protection of rivers, wetlands, and trees as they served as natural carbon sinks to control greenhouse gases and climate change as the country planned for a just energy transition.
Nana Akosua Gyamfuaba, the Queen mother of Nyankrom and a member of the Local Monitoring Team on Petroleum funded project lamented over the lack of coordination between the central government and the Local assemblies on award of projects contract.
She said, “we go to communities, and nobody seems to know what is going on even the assemblies…and when you ask, you are told the contractor comes from Accra”.
The Queenmother also spoke about the relocation of projects without the necessary updates of projects information and records and sometimes non-existent projects captured as completed projects in government dairies.
