A report by the Revenue Watch Institute has show that Ghana's extractive industries lack transparency. The report – entitled 2010 Revenue Watch Index-Transparency, Government and Oil Mining Industries – gauged and compared data on disclosure of information by governments about oil, gas and mining in mineral producing countries.
The report indicated that Ghana performed poorly in regard to providing key information about its extractive industries, obtaining a score of 32.3 out of 100. The score placed Ghana in a category with “Scant Revenue Transparency” alongside Tanzania, Algeria, DRC, Equatorial Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Turkmenistan.
Ghana's Deputy Commissioner for the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Richard Quayson called on the government to expand the provisions for transparency and accountability in the 2010 Revenue Management Bill, to ensure proper management of petroleum revenue. He said reports by the Public Procurement Authority showed that some entities did not adhere to the Public Procurement Act, namely related to procurement methods, preference for selective and restricted tendering, split tendering and inappropriate advertisement.
Quayson said reports by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament showed instances of corruption in the management of the State resources, including failure to bank revenue, concealment of revenue and non-tendering of contracts. He said CHRAJ has taken measures to fight corruption within Ghana by launching a National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) in order to incite greater transparency in private and public sectors.
In 2000, CHRAJ conducted a national survey on corruption which Quayson said would assist the commission to better understand the levels of corruption and its trends. He added that the survey would also help identify gaps in the current anti-corruption provisions and provide a basis for the development of the Plan. Quayson added that the greatest challenges faced were the politicisation of crime, electoral rigging and corruption and pledged to combat all.
Source: Ghana Web
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