Dr Steve Manteaw, a policy analyst with the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), has said an amount of Ghs 2,132,188,611.01 in oil revenue has been unaccounted for by government since 2017.
Making the disclosure in a Facebook post, Dr Manteaw provided clarity of the total amount of oil revenue he asserted could not be accounted for.
According to him, an amount of Ghs 400,914,441 in oil revenue was unaccounted for in 2017; Ghs 251,377,870.01 in 2018 and Ghs 1,479,896,300.00 in 2019.
This brings the total amount of oil revenue unaccounted for to Ghs Ghs 2,132,188,611.01.
Meanwhile, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) in its semi-annual report on the management of the nation’s petroleum revenue, noted it is unable to report on the programmes and activities undertaken with an amount of $169.51 million disbursed to the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) for the first quarter of 2020.
PIAC further in its report noted, the committee was also unable to provide an update on the status of unutilised and unaccounted for ABFA funds, which stood at Ghs 1.5 billion.
This follows Ministry’s failure to provide data on the utilisation of its ABFA for the fourth consecutive time.
“This is because the ministry’s persistent failure (fourth time) to provide half-year data on ABFA utilisation is not only adversely affecting the work of the committee, but [is] also eroding gains in the fight for transparency and accountability in the management and use of Ghana’s petroleum revenues for the benefit of citizens,” said the report.
PIAC therefore called on the Parliament to reinforce its fiscal oversight responsibility over the Ministry of Finance.
Find below Dr Manteaw’s Facebook post: