{"id":301110,"date":"2017-03-12T14:00:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-12T14:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=301110"},"modified":"2017-03-12T14:00:30","modified_gmt":"2017-03-12T14:00:30","slug":"piac-needs-prosecutorial-powers-stakeholders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/piac-needs-prosecutorial-powers-stakeholders\/","title":{"rendered":"PIAC needs prosecutorial powers – Stakeholders"},"content":{"rendered":"
As a statutory institution committed to ensuring efficient, transparent and accountable management of petroleum revenues and investments, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) lacks the legal wherewithal to prosecute people who misappropriate Ghana\u2019s oil revenue allocations.<\/p>\n
This came to light at a three-day workshop on interrogating the 2016 Annual PIAC report spearheaded by the Institute of Financial and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) and sponsored by the GIZ.<\/p>\n
It is against this backdrop that the participants there supported calls for PIAC to have prosecutorial powers.<\/p>\n
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This in their estimation could empower PIAC to fully fulfill its mandate of ensuring the efficient management of the nation\u2019s petroleum revenues for sustainable development.<\/p>\n
PIAC\u2019s Vice Chairman, Kwame Jantuah reiterated the committee\u2019s mandate to exhibiting high integrity and remaining independent of governmental dictatorship on the oil revenue management.<\/p>\n
According to him, PIAC is directly funded by the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) which feeds into the national budget.<\/p>\n
He quoted Ghc38.08 amount of the ABFA which was spent on capacity building as part of PIAC\u2019s 2016 activities.<\/p>\n
He grieved over the minimal impact of monies allocated for agriculture modernization as part of the four priority areas of the oil revenue funded projects.<\/p>\n
He admonished successive governments to invest the nation\u2019s oil revenue in profitable areas that will generate high returns in terms of added value.<\/p>\n
Kwame Jantuah disclosed that the stabilization and heritage funds could be merged to establish the sovereign wealth fund when there is depletion of the nation\u2019s oil resources.<\/p>\n
He reaffirmed PIAC\u2019s determination to partner with the media to keep track of oil revenue disbursement as means of promoting social auditing and accountability.<\/p>\n