Petroleum revenue management law to be reviewed

There could be as many as forty-five amendments to the Petroleum Revenue Management Law just three years after it came into being.

The Finance and Economic Planning Ministry has received proposals from the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), The Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), Friends of the Earth, Federation of Women Lawyers and the National Canoe Fishermen Association.

They are proposing amendments to oil revenue estimation, management and investment as well as provisions to make the sector more transparent.

Key among the proposals is an investment plan to curtail the powers of the Finance Minister in investing oil revenue. They also want the spending portfolio of the Annual Budgetary Funding Allocation reduced to two priority areas namely agriculture and education.

The Gender activists are also pushing for the prioritization of reproductive health and women’s rights issues in the use of oil revenue. There is also a proposal for the establishment of decommission fund to restore depleted petroleum reserves.

The Public Interest and Accountability Committee will also receive some funding from government if a proposal for the financing of its activities is accepted.

Executive Director of ACEP Mohammed Amin Adam said parliament did not do enough due diligence in promulgating the law.

“One of the main reasons for the poor implementation of the PRMA is the cost of implementation. ACEP’s review shows that enough due diligence was not done on the cost of implementation before the law was passed. The law in our view is one of the costly laws to implement….As a protector of public purse, parliament must request government to provide the cost estimates for implementing any new bill.”

The Chairman of the Finance Committee in Parliament James Klutse Avedzie told Business-Day the amendments will also see a review of the formula for estimating the benchmark petroleum revenue.

Source: Business Day Ghana

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