The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has expressed worries about the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s (GNPC) financial sustainability if it loses cash allocations from the Petroleum Holding Fund by 2026, as stipulated by the Petroleum Revenue Management Act.
PIAC claims that GNPC is facing significant challenges, with the government and its agencies owing the corporation nearly $1 billion.
During a discussion on the ‘Highlights of PIAC Issue Paper II’ on Time with PIAC, Technical Manager Mark Agyemang emphasized that these financial pressures are creating serious difficulties for GNPC.
“The government is responsible for the development of the country. These state-owned enterprises can come in through corporate social responsibility or investment, as you may want to call it. We have instances, which we have documented extensively, where the government will ask GNPC to pre-finance or give guaranties or give loans to other state-owned enterprises.
“We have the case of VRA, we have the Karpowership, we have ECG, we have the western corridor road enclaves, and we have the Tema Oil Refinery, where currently, as we speak, GNPC is owed almost to the tune of a billion dollars. And the state is supposed to pay them but it is the same state that is funding them. You see the dichotomy here. It is an issue and that actually causes financial headaches to the corporation.”
Mr Mark Agyemang is therefore calling for a reassessment of P.N.D.C.L 64, the legislation that created GNPC, to enable the national oil company to achieve greater financial autonomy.
“If the governance structure of GNPC is diversified enough where all appointees are not from the government, we will have independent bodies also making appointments to the governance board of GNPC, they can be in the position to say no to some of these government demands.”