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| Rejoinder: Ghana And The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative-Matters Arising |
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Some very good points were made in the paper however; the paper also contains some inaccuracies we wish to address. The need to avoid the famous “resource cause” that has bedeviled many oil producing countries in the developing world is at the heart of ongoing efforts including the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI). It is for this reason among others that the National Steering Committee (NSC) is work assiduously to ensure that the principles of EITI are extended to the oil/Gas sector in a timely manner. It is also our intension to ensure that the Oil/Gas sector benefits from our experiences in the mining sector such that challenges of the mining sector are not repeated in the emerging oil/Gas industry. Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is only one of the mechanisms government is using to strengthen transparency and improve governance of our natural resources. Other efforts in the areas of ensuring a robust Public Financial Management (PFM) system, strengthening key government institutions especially at the districts, and building the requisite capacities are all concurrently taking place to ensure that Ghana’s oil discovery contributes to poverty reduction and economic growth. It is important to note that EITI on its own cannot provide all the solutions. It is rather unfair to describe Ghana’s EITI process in the mining sector as “Bleak”. The Ghanaian process has been sited on many international and national platforms as one of the EITI success in the world. Certain innovations that were introduced by the Ghana process have subsequently be copied by other countries for its significance, many of these are contained in the GHEITI Aggregator’s reports which have been extensively disseminated (copies can be requested from the GHEITI Secretariat at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Room 310 or on the website at gheiti.gov.gh). Below are a few of the areas where GHEITI has been very instrumental; Establishment of a Multi revenue Task force at the Minerals Commission to promote inter sectoral collaboration among revenue agencies. Publication and disclosure of all government releases that go to the District Assemblies by the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands. Ongoing efforts to establish guidelines for the utilization of mining revenues by the District Assemblies. The review of the fiscal regime of the mining sector to ensure that mining companies pay more than 3% for mineral royalty. Measures to ensure that mining companies pay ground rent. It is worth noting that some key institutional reforms have been instigated by the Ghana EITI process (further details on this subject can also be obtained from the secretariat). Ghana started preparing for Validation since early 2009 by embarking on a series of pre-validation activities. In that regards, extensive consultation and sensitization workshops were held for various segments of the economy including, Civil Society, Press, Government agencies, mining companies, District Assemblies, academia, among others. The NSC also consulted extensive with our stakeholders on Ghana’s progress on the various elements of the validation grid. As you have rightly mention, a statement in the 2010 budget asserted to the fact that a framework will be developed on the modalities to extend the principles of GHEITI to the oil/gas sector. The statement is the result of work that was started in the third quarter of 2009 by the GHEITI NSC and colleagues from the Ministry of Energy (MoEn), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and some oil/gas companies. The draft framework has been developed, some consultation on the draft has taken place with key stakeholders and the draft is currently being prepared to be laid in Cabinet. In conclusion, we wish to share with you that the next phase of activities for Ghana EITI is contained in our work plan for 2010-2012. Stakeholders who which to participate in specific activities should refer to the work plan for further details. Released by The Ghana EITI Secretariat April 2010 |
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