An institutional assessment of the public interest and accountability committee (PIAC) in Ghana’s oil and gas sector

ABSTRACT

Ghana’s Petroleum Revenue Management Act 815 (amended to Act 893 in 2015) established the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) in 2011 with the mandate to ensure accountability and transparency in the management and usage of oil and gas revenue. This paper critically examines the activities and operations of the PIAC from 2011 vis-à-vis its legally reposed mandate. It points to severe deficit in accountability but improvements in transparency in the management of oil and gas revenues in spite of the existence and operations of the PIAC. After eight years of operation, the PIAC continues to suffer monumental challenges that undermine its effectiveness in serving as an accountability and transparency initiative in Ghana’s oil and gas sector. The paper makes some recommendation based on the empirical challenges of the PIAC identified to strengthen the PIAC to deliver effectively on its mandate.

KEYWORDS:

• Ghana
• resource curse
• oil and gas
• institutions
• transparency and accountability
• public interest and accountability committee

Acknowledgements

Emmanuel Graham and colleagues would like to thank the former Executive Director of Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) Dr Mohammed Amin Adam (currently, the Deputy Minister of Energy in charge of petroleum) who gave this topic to Emmanuel as his first project when Emmanuel was working as a consultant at ACEP from 2014 to 2015. We would also like to thank all reviewers for their insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Emmanuel Graham is the corresponding author. He is a PhD Student and Teaching Assistant, Department of Politics, York University, Toronto Canada. Email:[email protected], [email protected].

Ransford Edward Van Gyampo is an Associate Professor, University of Ghana. Email: [email protected].

Ishmael Ackah works at the Institute for Oil and Gas Studies, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. Email: [email protected].

Nathan Andrews is an Assistant Professor, University of Northern British Columbia. Email: [email protected].

ORCID

Emmanuel Graham http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5835-8644

Ishmael Ackah http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7703-4925

Nathan Andrews http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3572-2316

Notes

1 See https://www.economist.com/special-report/2015/06/18/opportunity-knocks.

2 See https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/gnpc-sets-up-professorial-chairs-in-4-universities.html and https://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2017/August-16th/gnpc-allocates-15m-support-science-maths-at-tertiary-institutions.php.

3 See https://www.graphic.com.gh/business/business-news/planning-ministry-to-track-oil-revenue-expenditure.html.

4 (PRMA-Amendment 2015).