News | Newsroom | IMANI Center for Policy and Education
On Friday, 8th May 2015, the Botsio Hall of the Alisa Hotel was filled with a diverse audience from the world of media, politics and commerce, as well as members of the Diplomatic corps for IMANI’s event on “Citizens’ Demand for Accountability in Ghana’s Oil and Gas sector”.
The two-part programme was chaired by Dr. Steve Manteaw, Executive Director of ISODEC and Chairman of the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas. The first part was a presentation of an IMANI report by Research Fellow, Kofi Boahen, which depicted how petroleum revenues (specifically the Annual Budget Funding Amount – ABFA) had been spent since 2011. The presentation focused on ABFA funded projects within the Education, Health, Agriculture and Road sectors.
The report revealed that ABFA disbursements to Pro – poor sectors – Agriculture and Health from 2011 to 2014 represented only 14.42% of total ABFA expenditure. The Education sector disbursement constituted a paltry of 1.49% of total ABFA expenditure from 2011 to 2013.
Aside Government committing substantial portions of petroleum revenues to Pro-poor sectors, the report also recommended that the spending of petroleum revenues should be based on an investment plan guided by a long – term national development or medium term development framework.
The second-part of the programme was a presentation by the discussant, Mr. Theo Acheampong, a PhD candidate in Petroleum Economics at Aberdeen University. He shared insightful thoughts on Ghana’s capacity, legal framework and prospects within the Oil and Gas industry.
The audience also provided thought – provoking suggestions and comments, making the event a very interactive one. In all, the programme was a success; a media-friendly version of the report will be published soon.
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