Dr. Manteaw had raised concerns earlier over government’s failure to resort to an open bidding process to select Exxon Mobil despite the Energy Minister, Boakye Agarko, explaining that negotiations began before the law was passed.

[contextly_sidebar id=”083kCJTM136gIT8s5Mj9UwOCL9l5Me1D”]But Dr. Manteaw insisted to Citi News that was no excuse to violate the laws of the country.

“Negotiators may have started long before the law was passed, but to the extent that it was not concluded once the law was passed, they must be subjected to the law. Even though the law provides for a situation of this nature, we are yet to be convinced about what is really special about their circumstance that really warranted the direct negotiations,” he contended.

Beyond this, he said common sense should have compelled the government to opt for a competitive bidding process in the interest of best practice and efficiency.

“Even if the law did not require open competitive bidding, common sense suggests to us that open competitive bidding and international best practices suggest that open competitive bidding was the way to ensure optimal returns in the negations of contracts.”

Group being selective

But on Eyewitness News, the Deputy Minister of Energy, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, said the Civil Society group was being selective in its contentions.

According to him, the group was only focusing on section 10 (3) of the 2016 Petroleum Act 919, which requires the government to enter into exploration agreements through a competitive public tender as the default process.

Dr. Amin Adam made reference to Section 10 (9) of the same law, which he said permitted direct negotiations without public tender.

Section 10 (9) says: “Despite the subsection (3) the Minister may, in consultation with the Commission, determine that a petroleum agreement may be entered into by direct negotiations without public tender, where direct negotiations  represent the most efficient manner to achieve optimal exploration, development and production of petroleum resources in a defined area.”

“So the Minister [Boakye Agyarko] hasn’t done anything wrong. The Minister has complied with the law, section 10 (9) which requires the Minister to constitute another process, where that process gives us the efficient means by which the resource can be exploited,” Dr. Amin Adam stated.

The agreement, which is subject to parliamentary ratification will allow the oil giant to acquire exploration and production rights for the Deepwater Cape Three Points block that is Tano Basin.

Ghanaian ownership is estimated at thirty percent.

This comprises 10 percent royalty to the government of Ghana while the GNPC owns 15 percent stake as Carried and Participation Interest.

Also, the local partner for ExxonMobil is entitled to five percent of the company’s stake.

ITLOS ruling

ExxonMobil’s investment in the oil sector becomes the first major one in Ghana following the landmark ruling by ITLOS in the maritime border dispute between Ghana and Ivory Coast, in September last year.

The apparent victory by Ghana gives the country an appreciable reputation among the global oil giants.

At the signing ceremony, the Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko, explain to Citi Business News that the move is set to trigger further investments in the short to medium-term.

“Exxon Mobil is coming in with the highest standard of safety, financial accounting and all that we need to get done as a country…we have received a lot of expression of interests from other major players; the BP, Shell, Chevron, among others. All of them are now coming to operate in Ghana,” he stated.

The CEO of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation [GNPC], Dr. K.K. Sarpong, stressed the enforcement of local content policies.

In his view, the plan will give Ghanaians access to opportunities in Exxon Mobil’s operations where necessary.

“In terms of local content policies, the laws have been strengthened the Petroleum Commission is at the forefront of enforcing the laws and we at GNPC have the sustainability and localization department which tries to make sure that we bring our partner’s attention to the mode of operation so that we take advantage to get benefits from our local people both corporate and individuals.”

ExxonMobil joins other operators in Ghana’s petroleum upstream sector including, Tullow, Kosmos, ENI, among others.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Gov’t deal with Exxon Mobil ‘unlawful’ – Steve Manteaw appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This is the belief of the National Campaign Coordinator of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Dr Steve Manteaw.

[contextly_sidebar id=”JlvvzOhCdIGhx38YIWK9w3BF4zFgykZn”]According to him, Ghana’s delay in submitting the report could mainly be attributed to the failure of the World Bank to provide funding for the reporting.

Ghana, from 2015, has failed to submit to the international body its annual report on commitments, and the fight against corruption in the country’s gold, oil and gas sectors, putting it at risk of suspension from the EITI if it does not produce the report by the end of 2017.

Information available to Citi News indicates that the government, through the Ministry of Finance has already written to the organization pleading for a three-month extension to enable it put the reports together.

Dr. Manteaw in an interview on Eyewitness News said despite the delay, Ghana has already initiated steps to get funding for the reports but will need extra time to complete it.

“Like many other implementing countries, the reporting is financed by the World Bank and we have assurances from the World Bank that monies were going to be released for the reporting however the World Bank failed to fulfill its side of the bargain. And very late in the year we found that it wasn’t possible for the World Bank to do its disbursement so quickly we had move to look for money outside the budget to finance the reporting. Government get managed to get some money for the mining sector and the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG) came to government’s aid with money for the oil and gas reporting. So we [have] actually begun the process towards implementing our report for 2015/2016,” he said.

He said Ghana will be perceived as an unsafe destination for investment in the extractive industry if it is suspended from the EITI.

He argued that, “once a country is suspended, the impression is created that that country is not committed to fighting corruption and abuse in the extractive sector and that in itself becomes a deterrent for potential investors especially in the extractive sector.”

Dr. Manteaw said he was however hopeful that the EITI will grant Ghana’s request for an extension.

He also urged the government to find sustainable ways of ensuring funding for the production of the annual report to avert the difficulty in future.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post EITI suspension could deter potential investors – Manteaw appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, successive governments have failed to track the use of the country’s petroleum receipts.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, Dr. Manteaw, who is also a policy analyst with the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), said the Minister of Finance must be compelled to provide a regular update on the use of the country’s oil receipt.

His comment comes on the back of a call by the African Centre for Energy Policy for government to put in place mechanisms to track spending on the Free SHS programme.

Free SHS may collapse without tracking of funds – ACEP

The Executive Director of ACEP, Ben Boakye in a Citi News interview said, “it is not just about raising revenue to say we are supporting free SHS, but which specific items are receiving the fund for the sectors, and how can we track as a people to ensure that the monies are not sipping or diverted into pockets, but rather going to finance education or infrastructure.”

“If we don’t do that, we continue to spend and the outcome will not be the way we want. We are spending so much on education and yet the challenges are not going away, it means that we need to track how revenue is spent,” he said.

Steve Manteaw, who backed ACEP’s call, lamented that successive governments were funding almost all educational projects in the country, without the needed accountability.

While calling for sanctions against persons who abuse the petroleum receipts, he said, “we need to take steps to sanction people who are found culpable in terms of abusing petroleum revenue in this country. The abuses have happened largely because the minister of finance, including this very one, have violated section 38 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), which requires that in their annual reconciliation report, they actually indicate the stage of completion of oil-funded projects, so if we were getting regular updates in terms of the utilizations and outcome of these revenues as they are used, then there is a way it limits opportunities for abuse because  you are invariably accounting.”

‘Gov’t tracking Free SHS for accountability’

Meanwhile, a deputy Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has assured that government is effectively tracking the implementation of the flagship Free SHS programme to ensure that funds allocated for its implementation are judiciously used.

“This administration has beyond the PIAC report that tracks ABFA utilization, set up a Ministry for Monitoring and Evaluation which goes into detail of what is being spent on which project. What timelines have been given, and who is within budget. That gives a fair sense of how we are working to track general government programs and projects, but also specifically the free SHS because it is a flagship program of this government. There is a tracking mechanism,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Sanction those misusing petroleum revenue – Manteaw to Gov’t appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The campaign coordinator for ISODEC, Dr. Steve Manteaw said until the country separates its politics from state agencies especially its security, it cannot deal decisively with corrupt officials.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Ca3UY587kWCTwC5FqAllIpGhL0Q76q29″]Mr. Manteaw’s comment follows an investigation launched by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) into allegations of corruption leveled against two Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Francis Asenso-Boakye and Abu Jinapor.

The allegations were made by musician and NPP sympathizer, A-Plus in a Facebook post earlier this week.

A-Plus was invited by the CID alongside Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong, over the separate allegations of corruption against some government officials.

According to Dr. Manteaw, the situation where every change of government is accompanied by a change in the top level management of state institutions will not promote the fight against corruption as such investigations may not be done professionally.

“To the extent that we have actually politicized the institutions, we cannot expect the level of professionalism that should be required of any state security agency. Let’s be mindful of the fact that the heads of these institutions have been appointed by the current administration so there is always the likelihood that they will pander to the interest of this administration,” he said.

“We should end the useless politicization of our state institutions. I don’t think that the heads of state security agencies should necessarily be appointed by the political authority of the day. I will welcome a situation where they are appointed through a competitive process so they remain loyal regardless of which government is in power. Not just security agencies, but all state agencies so that they can do their work professionally,” he added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Manteaw has described as commendable, steps taken by President Akufo Addo in addressing the allegations of corruption leveled against the two deputy chiefs of staff.

According to him, the president’s directive to the Criminal Investigations Department to investigate the allegations gives an indication of his readiness to root out corruption even within his government.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Politicizing top security jobs threatens corruption fight – ISODEC appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.