Over 20 Civil society organizations across the country have concluded that government has done little to boost accountability since the discovery and production of oil but have facilitated the provision of transparency initiatives in the petroleum sector.
According to them, ensuring transparency alone does not in itself lead to proper and effective use of the oil revenues.
[contextly_sidebar id=”nLeVaxfi5esY3Re4mIMckpgCgcsuybtk”]Speaking at the conference organized by the Integrated Social Development center (ISODEC), the campaign coordinator of center, Dr. Steve Asare Manteaw noted that, “over the years, we have been given transparency; PIAC has been publishing reports, the Bank of Ghana has been publishing reports, the Finance ministry has also been publishing reports all on how Ghana is doing with its oil revenues, but has these things culminated into the sort of change we wanted to see with the coming on stream of the oil? We haven’t been able to make that critical transition from transparency to accountability.”
He stated that “five years into commercial oil production, has the fear expressed in 2007, the anxiety and the aspirations been fulfilled?”
Dr. Manteaw urged all Civil Society Organizations in the oil and gas industry to use the already published reports to demand accountability from duty bearers because “we didn’t demand for the reports just to have reports but to use them to cause the change we wish to see in our country.”
“The reports itself do not bring change in society. It’s how we use the information in those reports to demand accountability that matters. He admonished.
–
By: Obrempong Yaw Ampofo/cititfmonline.com/Ghana