This, ACEP believes is the surest means of rationalizing the use of oil revenue to ensure value for money on funded projects across the country.

ACEP’s Senior Programmes Manager, Miss Munira Abubakari, raised this concern in a Citi News interview in Tamale, on the sidelines at a day’s sensitization programme on the use of oil revenue at the Tamale Technical University.

She bemoaned what she described as meager disbursement of the oil revenue to fund government’s numerous projects.

“Even though government has tried as much as possible to follow the dictates of the petroleum revenue law, revenue generated from the sale of oil is currently spread thinly on so many projects which do not ensure value for money.”

She disclosed the non-existence of some supposed oil funded projects in communities where the fact finding team visited in the Northern Region.

“Our team visited some communities where there are supposed to be oil funded projects, but unfortunately those projects were nowhere to be found.”

Miss Munira Abubakari thereby advised government to judiciously expend the oil revenue on a few sustainable projects to alleviate the plight of the suffering masses.

“We as a policy think-tank don’t think that it is good to spread money in that manner because it is difficult tracking where the money goes to.”

“…Besides, it also creates another problem where if you allocate money to a project and there are other funding sources coming to fund the same project, which is counterpart funding, it is really not easy tracking the money. Speaking to the right authorities and getting information on such projects becomes difficult because there are so many funding sources.”

She mentioned a decline in the agric sector where a chunk of the oil revenue is invested.

She also complained about some government officials’ unwillingness to assist ACEP collate data needed to deepen social auditing and accountability on the oil revenue disbursement.

“Some government officials of certain departments do not cooperate with our team when we request for information as part of our mission to tracking the use of oil money.”

The ACEP team further sensitized students of the Tamale Technical University on the large deposits of iron ore at Sheini in the Tatale-Sanguli district of the Northern Region.

OXFAM-Ghana is funding ACEP’s tracking of the oil money projects, particularly in the agric sector.

The team visited and interacted with officials of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Irrigation Development Authority.

The team has so far visited oil revenue funded projects such as the Zakpalsi irrigation project in the Northern Region, and the Tankasi and Zuiding irrigation projects in the Upper East Region.

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By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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“At the end of the moratorium July 31^st such goods will be considered as contraband and will be seized immediately by the Ivoirian Customs under article 290 of the Customs Code,” Dr. Kofi Mbiah, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Shippers Authority stated.

Dr Mbiah  called on the shipping community to take note of the Ivorian authority’s directive and act accordingly whilst further negations between the two countries continue.

The Ghana Shippers Authority has also advised the shipping community that documents required for clearance includes detailed invoice, packing list, copy of the transit declaration, way bill, a declaration which must be presented exclusively by the recognized Customs Agent.

The three-member delegation to Abidjan, which was led by the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority, Mr Emmanuel Martey, with the help of the Ghana Mission in Cote d’Ivoire, held meetings with stakeholders to allow the trucks to enter and deliver the goods to their owners.

Dr Mbiah also explained that following consultation with the Ivorian Authority, it had finally allowed stranded cargo trucks at the Elubo border to move into the country after being denied entry due to the ban.

He said the decision to allow the trucks entry was taken by the Ivorian authorities after negotiations by two delegations from Ghana which held series of meetings with officials in Abidjan and Elubo to get the Ivorian government to review the enforcement of a trade directive.

The directive is said to have been on the statutes of Cote d’ivoire since 2005 but had not been enforced until now.

He said the development has affected the business of freight forwarders, the livelihood of truck drivers and their conductors, and business dealings between Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, while the congestion caused by the 59 trucks parked at the border also had negative environmental implications.

He said GSA team met the stranded drivers and officials of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) at the border and customs officials of Cote d’Ivoire separately.

A circular issued by the Ivorian Director General of Customs, Colonel Issa Coulibaly obtained by the Ghana News Agency ban the clearance of goods imported through the land borders.

It said cargoes originating from non ECOWAS member states, including car engines are banned from entering Cote d’Ivoire through the land borders.

“These goods, even if they are transiting through ECOWAS member states can only be cleared at the port of Abidjan or San Pedro after arriving by sea or by air,” the directives stated.

Sanctions for violation include confiscation of  cargo, means of transport and container as well as culprit would pay a fine amounting to four times the cost of the goods but without prejudice to the payment of levies and taxes due.

In addition, a possibility of a prison sentence of six months to three years.

The directives said goods seized and or confiscated would be considered a property of the state and if necessary could be destroyed eventually.

According to the directives used vehicles imported into Cote d’Ivoire through the land borders are exempted; “therefore they should go through the right clearance procedure by completing declaration form in Abidjan.

Source: GNA

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