A former Finance Minister, Dr. Anthony Akoto-Osei wants President John Mahama to sack the entire management and board of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) over the decision to contract a $700 million loan.
According to him, the conduct of the board and management of GNPC is in bad taste and taints the image of government.
“If I were the President, I will sack the board and the management because it is an embarrassment to the government,” he fumed.
[contextly_sidebar id=”wyLcS9TChE5Em5evTkHxpRNUw3FEQRMo”]The Corporation is securing a $700 million loan to fund its activities without parliamentary approval; a procedure the Minority in Parliament insists is illegal.
But the GNPC maintains it did not err in any way because the GNPC Act allows it to secure loans without Parliamentary approval.
Speaking in an interview with Citi News however, the member of Parliament’s finance committee said the GNPC’s defense is unjustified.
He asked: “If it is a legitimate thing, why are they afraid to bring it to Parliament? It’s like government is trying to hide something.”
According to him, the President has sworn to protect and defend the nation’s constitution therefore, if “your agents are violating the constitution and if you endorse it, you ware violating the very same constitution you swore to defend. You can’t allow impunity to prevail.”
Dr. Akoto Osei observed that the GNPC is “acting like it is a private corporation with private funds. The funds are public funds! In any case, GNPC is a trustee of our assets. What does it have to hide when the law says your activities must be approved by Parliament?”
He insisted that GNPC has breached the constitution and advised them to admit they have made a mistake and “they should back off before they run into trouble.”
“I think they are wrong, In Ghana, we go by rules and we should not allow any institution to violate the constitution which is the supreme law in Ghana,” he added.
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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