Minority Want Finance Minister Summoned Over Missing Ghc827million Oil Money

The Minority in Parliament has called on the House to summon over Ghc820 million that the Ministry says is missing from the country’s cash inflows from oil.

On Thursday, ranking member for the finance committee, Cassiel Ato Forson, called for the summons saying the explanation the Ministry gave the Public Interest Accountability Committee (PIAC) is not tenable.

“I agree with PIAC, that the ministry of finance must come properly in accounting for the 827 million Ghana cedis. It’s not chicken money and this amount cannot be missing in their physical reporting,” he said.

The Finance Ministry had been explaining the anomaly, but the Minority says the explanation is not satisfactory. “… it is not satisfactory to the public interest of accountability committee of Government …for that matter, we in this house should summon the minister responsible for finance before us to explain to us.”

The Finance Ministry is said to have told PIAC that the government is unable to account for over the 800 million cedis oil money in its 2020 report.

This is not the first time Ken Ofori-Atta has played monkey with Ghana’s oil money. In 2017, out of the total oil money transferred to ABFA, $403 million was not unutilized. In 2018, another $252 million out of the total figure transferred to the fund (ABFA) was not utilized, amounting to $655 million, PIAC demanded to know what the money was used for.

According to Dr. Steve Manteaw, Chairman of PIAC, Ofori-Atta’s Ministry had claimed that the money had been lodged into Treasury Accounts, but there are no documentation to prove this claim.