Parliament has deferred the approval of the programme of activities of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) pending some questions to be answered by the Minister of Petroleum on their operations.
Members of the house expressed serious reservations about some activities of GNPC which they say amounts to a waste of the country's resources.
The MPs insisted that they could not approve GNPC's programme because some projects the corporation wants to undertake deviates from their core mandate.
Contributing to the motion for approval of GNPC's programmes on the floor of the house, MP for Old Tafo in the Ashanti region, Dr Anthony Osei Akoto said the way GNPC is being managed currently leaves much to be desired.
“They have loaned $58 million to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and now they are trying to construct a national emergency reponse centre. Is that their mandate? They are doing lots of things that we should check. We cannot agree to pass this. If we pass this, the public will blame Parliament for not doing its work well,” he said.
Dr. Akoto noted that “GNPC is overblowing its expenditure, yet they claim they have a deficit. They go and loan money to TOR and guarantee $100 million for ECG and yet, they come and tell us they operate a deficit.”
“When people are given position, they should know that they are representing the people of Ghana…We are party to certain activities that we know are wrong. The programme of activities we know are wrong. You and I want GNPC to build a medical response centre, but for me it doesn't make sense,” he stated.
The GNPC programme of activities is a document which needs legislative approval to enable the corporation to carry out its projects for the year.
Parliament defers GNPC budget
Parliament in 2015 deferred voting on the budget for the GNPC after the Deputy Minority Leader, Dominic Nitiwul, raised some critical issues with it, saying for a budget as big as the national budget, there ought to be much clarity.
GNPC boss defends 'numerous' projects
The CEO of the GNPC Alex Mould had earlier defended the corporations decision to invest in a number of projects .
“The bottom line is the GNPC has to dispose of its gas; GNPC has to ensure that the value chain that is going to ensure that we get paid is a value chain that is working and sustainable, currently it is not. So the GNPC has to be involved in ensuring that happens otherwise for sure, we will not be paid for our gas…So that is why the GNPC is involved in the power sector, because we are going to be the largest revenue in the power sector in the fuel supply. If you look at how much money will be collected, GNPC will be collecting from the IPP's more than fifty percent because we will be supplying gas to everybody,” he clarified.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin
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