Govt urged to broaden oil discussions

Government has been advised to broaden its discussion on the country's oil discovery to include the ordinary citizens to ensure greater transparency and understanding.

Vitus A Azeem, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative told The Statesman yesterday after a press conference in Accra that so far the oil discussion, though laudable has been discussed at a level above the understanding of the ordinary Ghanaian and should therefore be discussed in a manner and language easily understood by the ordinary Ghanaian.

The press conference was held in reference to the Transparency International report on Revenue Transparency among Oil and Gas Companies released on April 28, this year.

The report stated that governments are ultimately accountable for the management of their resources and must, therefore, lead the drive for a more equitable exploitation of oil and gas wealth by enacting, promoting and enforcing the appropriate legislations and regulations.

"That there is a need for transparency in the operations of oil and gas companies and the use to which revenues from these companies are put," Mr Azeem stressed.

He further called on the government to make available agreements that it has signed with the oil companies to Ghanaians. He said there must be transparency in future negotiations and agreements for the exploration and production of Ghana's crude oil with regard to tax concession, repatriation of profits, environmental impact assessments and compensation to citizens affected by the exploration.

According to the GII boss, some recommendations in the report, including a requirement that companies coming into Ghana should be proactively reporting revenues paid to governments on a country-by-country basis and avoid companies that have bad record of transparency; government, stock exchange and regulatory agencies should consider urgent mandatory reporting for companies operating in the country and abroad have been endorsed by his outfit and Revenue Watch Institute.

The TI report stated that sixty percent of the world's poorest people live in resource-rich countries but are poor partly because they do not have access to data on how much the companies pay for the right to exploit these resources and how the money is spent by the government.

"Oil and gas wealth, if properly managed, should support better services and infrastructure. It should lead to a better quality of life for all citizens," the report indicated.

It urged civil society organisations to work with companies and governments to make resource-rich countries and their citizens realise the full potential of their resources.