By Francis Kobena Tandoh
The continuous monitoring of oil-funded projects by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) is in limbo following the decision by the government to take the civil society group off the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), its regular source.
In a virtual media engagement last Friday on the 2025 PIAC Semi-Annual Report, PIAC Coordinator, Isaac Dwamena Esq., observed that the situation has arisen due to the amendment of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), 2011, Act 815.
Speaking on the topic, “The 2025 PRMA Amendments and Their Implications,” he observed that the new Amendment Act, 2025 (Act 1138), has taken away the regular source of funding for PIAC and is also silent on how the group will be resourced to carry out its monitoring activities.
He explained that PIAC is supposed to undertake monitoring of two major projects in a year, but has done so only with the support of Good Governance Africa (GGA), and warned that the future looks bleak for PIAC if things do not improve.
“PIAC has conducted only one monitoring project this year, and that was sponsored by GGA. If things continue the same way as PIAC has experienced this year, then the future is bleak; something must be done,” said Dwamena.
He explained that between 2016 and 2024, the Committee received an average of 85.53 percent of its annual budget from the ABFA and that if the current problem is not addressed, PIAC will go back to the pre-2015 era.
“With the new amendment, PIAC is off ABFA funding—this returns PIAC to the pre-2015 era; it received from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) an average of 31.02 percent of its annual budget for programs and activities,” he stated.
To avoid a resource curse following the discovery of oil in Ghana in 2007, the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) was established in 2011 to ensure the effective, transparent, and efficient use, management, and investment of petroleum revenue from Ghana’s petroleum resources.
The Committee is a citizen-led public interest committee mandated under section 52 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) 2011 (Act 815), as amended by the Petroleum Revenue Management (Amendment) Act 2015 (Act 893), 2015, to:
(a) Monitor and evaluate compliance with the Act by the government and other relevant institutions in the management and use of the petroleum revenue and investments as stipulated in the Act.
(b) Provide space and a platform for the public to debate whether spending prospects and management and use of revenues conform to development priorities as provided under section 21 (3) of the Act; and
(c) Provide independent assessments on the management and use of petroleum revenues to Parliament and the Executive in the oversight and performance of related functions, respectively.
By section 56, the Committee is further required to publish semi-annual and annual reports:
- In at least two state-owned national daily newspapers by the 15th of September and the 15th of March of each year.
- On the Committee’s Website
- Hold public meetings twice each year to report on its mandate to the general public and
- Submit a copy of its semi-annual and annual reports to the President and Parliament. Enditem
Source: Ghana Eye Report
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