Account For Missing ₵400.9m – ACEP To Ken Ofori-Atta

The Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) is asking the Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta to account for the whereabouts of the GHC400.9 million of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) that was not spent in 2017.

The Centre is also urging the Minister to provide detailed reconciliation of the petroleum funds with accurate data and explanations to all the discrepancies.

Speaking at a news conference in Accra, the Executive Director of ACEP, Ben Boakye said data from the 2017 reconciliation report on the Petroleum Funds show that the Ministry has been anything short of transparent, efficient, and detailed in ABFA utilization and reporting.

He indicated that the total disbursement of $169 million to the ABFA in 2017 translates to GHC733.2 million. This is GHC41.7 million short of the cedi equivalent of the projected disbursement to the ABFA in the reconciliation report, and GHC63.1million in the 2017 national budget.

According to him, the Ministry of Finance conveniently revised the budgeted ABFA figures in the reconciliation report without corresponding explanations to adjustments made to budgeted expenditure on the priority areas.

Mr Boakye posited that government had GHC733.2 million of ABFA to spend on the priority areas in 2017 meanwhile government spent only GHC 332.29 million but the Ministry of Finance failed to account for the unspent difference of GHC 400.9 million, representing 54.6% of total ABFA disbursed.

He intimated that the unspent ABFA difference of GHC 400.9 million is more than enough to have funded the total budget variance of Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), education, health, and roads and other critical infrastructure.

“Where is the money, and why did that money not go to the priority areas when it was available? We are reminded of a similar event that happened in 2014 when an outstanding GHC600million of ABFA was swept out of the accountability framework of the PRMA by the Bank of Ghana,” Mr. Boakye stated.

Ministry Cited for Reconciliation Abuses
The Executive Director of ACEP, Ben Boakye indicated that the reconciliation report, which was published at the end of the first quarter of 2018, is supposed to give a full account of petroleum revenues in the preceding year (2017).

He said, however, in the 2017 reconciliation report, the Ministry provides in paragraph 74 that the GH332.9 million ABFA expenditure on priority areas is a provisional indication of ABFA utilization for that year.

“This is very unacceptable, as it defeats the essence of a reconciliation report which is supposed to be a follow up to the 2017 annual report on petroleum funds, and present a true and complete picture of petroleum revenue receipts, disbursement, and utilization for the full year,” he emphasized.

According to him, the Ministry of Finance must at all times comply with the disbursement architecture of petroleum revenues as provided for by the PRMA.

He added that PIAC should follow up on the issues raised in their review of the 2017 reconciliation report on petroleum holding funds, and demand responses from the Ministry of Finance on behalf of citizens of Ghana in compliance with its role under section 52 of the PRMA.

Ministry Slipped Cash under Carpet to GNPC
Mr Boakye emphasized that there is an issue of disregard for parliamentary oversight on GNPC’s share of petroleum revenues.

He noted that the Ministry of Finance received parliamentary approval to disburse $45.3 million to GNPC as its share of the net Carried and Participating Interest (CAPI) however, without recourse to Parliament, the Ministry of Finance disbursed $78.6 million to the GNPC. This was GHC33.3 million in excess of approved budget.

Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) Discrepancies

Mr Ben Boakye said in 2017, the Ministry of Finance presented, and Parliament approved, a zero budgetary allocation to the GIIF however, the 2017 reconciliation report on the petroleum funds shows that an amount of $6.92 million was disbursed to the GIIF from the first TEN liftings in the first quarter of 2017.

He explained that the PRMA provides in section 21(4) that for any financial year, a maximum of 25% of ABFA allocated to public investment expenditure shall be allocated to the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF).

According to him, the Ministry of Finance by disbursing funds directly from TEN liftings to the GIIF clearly contravened the PRMA provisions on the source of funds to the GIIF, being the ABFA.

Mr Ben Boakye posited that the Ministry of Finance’s action constitutes blatant disregard for Parliament’s authority in approving national expenditures.

“The Ministry of Finance must seek the approval of parliament for expenditures outside the approved budget such as happened with disbursement to the GIIF in 2017, and the $33.3 million oil revenue disbursement towards GNPC’s share of the net CAPI in that same year,” he intimated.