Give oil host communities sustainable livelihoods — Dr Ackah
There is the need for the government to engage stakeholders to develop sustainable livelihood strategies for indigenes of oil host communities in the country, the Technical Advisor on Energy and Petroleum Policy to the Minister for Planning, Dr Ishmael Ackah has said.
He said this would help secure the rights of current and future indigenes around the oil host communities as they seek to promote inclusive growth in the oil and gas sector.
“There is a need to engage the communities to develop sustainable livelihood strategies like artificial reefs - which is man made under water structure built to promote marine life-, fish farming and provide technical and vocational skills for the indigenes to provide basic services and goods to the industry,” he said in an interview on June 13 after a forum on inclusive development growth.
The forum was organised by the Ministry of Planning and the national development planning commission supported by UNICEF and the Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth (GOGIG) .
The indigene’s major source of livelihood in the oil host communities are fishing and fish mongering but due to pair trawling, illegal fishing and other factors including oil production, fish catch has reduced significantly.
On how to promote inclusive growth, he said there was the need to involve communities, sub national authorities and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in priority selections.
He also added that the government must develop petroleum investment plans for each priority area focusing on specific flagship programmes, not more than two, within a priority area to spend petroleum revenues on.
“On local content, we have to concentrate on technology transfer and support for Ghanaian based owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). There is also the need to raise female petroleum champions buy designing training, scholarship n opportunities for them,” he said.
Vision for the sector
The Coordinated Programme which outlines the vision of the government explains that the overall objective of Government’s petroleum revenue management policy is to utilise the oil and gas revenue efficiently to promote growth and development of the country, create wealth for future generations, ensure expenditure smoothening, and avoid the resource sector-related curse known as the ‘Dutch Disease’.
It adds that to this end, oil and gas revenues will be invested in growth-inducing and pro-poor programmes to promote balanced development and address rising inequality.
Promoting transparency
Dr Ackah highlighted some steps and measures the government has taken to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the oil and gas sector.
He said in 2007, Ghana became a candidate country by producing and publishing its first Extractives Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) report covering the period 2004-2006. The country finally assumed the status of a compliant country after completing the validation process in 2010.
In addition, the Exploration and Production Law, 2016 (Act 919), the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), 815(2011) (amended in 2015 as Act 893), Petroleum Commission Law, 2011 (Act 821) and the Local Content Regulations (LI 2204) are all provisions that have been made to promote transparency and accountability.
“For instance, section 56 (1 and 2) of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Law, 2016 (Act 919) mandates the Petroleum Commission to establish and maintain a public register of all petroleum licenses among others,” he said.
He added that the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) – the committee with oversight responsibility over the prudent management of oil revenues - is charged under section 51 of the PRMA to monitor and evaluate compliance with the Act.
In addition, Section 48(2)(b) of the amended Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) mandates the Minister for Finance to publish the status of implementation of oil funded projects annually.
He also added that Section 8 (1,2,3) of the PRMA requires that the records of petroleum receipts in whatever form, shall simultaneously be published by the Minister in the Gazette and in at least two state owned daily newspapers,
In addition to the above requirements, the PRMA also requires Bank of Ghana to present to the Minister and to the Investment Advisory Committee, quarterly reports on the performance and activities of the Ghana Stabilisation Fund and the Ghana Heritage Fund.