GNPC must be monitored to cut further wasting of oil money – Majority Leader

Majority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has taken a swipe at expenditures made by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) yearly.

The Parliamentary Affairs Minister said the Corporation is wasting State funds through activities which are not mandated to undertake.

Speaking at a forum on Saturday, the Minister called for “critical eyes” to be focused on GNPC in the discharge of its functions.

“When you consider the fact that about a third of our oil revenue goes [there] and somehow a lot of them gets misapplied, we should be worried as a country,” he said.

GNPC was set up in 1983 to ensure the provision of adequate supply of petroleum products in the country but it has, for the past years, found itself funding programmes that are not related to its functions.

In 2013, the entity became the headline sponsor of the national team, Black Stars, supporting it with $3 million yearly.

With Ghana’s new status as an oil-producing country, about a third of the revenue generated from the production is channelled into activities of the GNPC.

Mr Mensah-Bonsu believes GNPC has not been judicious with the resources allocated to it and has urged a reduction in funds given the entity.

“If GNPC…has money to ferry supporters of Black Stars…at huge cost by its actions and inactions that perhaps, we have given them much more than they deserve,” he said.

He also called for a collaboration between Parliament and government to find a way to direct the attention of GNPC onto its core functions.

 

primenewsghana.com/Ghana News