Abuakwa South Member of Parliament, Samuel Atta Akyea has said that the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation can be a major source of revenue for Ghana’s economy if it should have proper alignment.
Mr Atta Akeya said this in Parliament while agreeing with a comment by his colleague lawmaker for Pru East Dr Kwabena Donkor who made same comment in Parliament on Wednesday November 2.
Dr Kwabena Donkor told the House that GNPC risks going bankrupt.
Dr Donkor said this while supporting a motion to adopt he report of the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and State Enterprises on the annual financial performance of of the GNPC for the years 2019 to 2020, in Parliament on Wednesday November 2.
The former Minister of Power said “we are saying that the committee observed that GNPC engages in activities outside its core mandate, which either do not produce commercial value for the organization or compromise efficiency and utilization of GNPC’s revenue.
“We will urge that for purely financial analysis, without injection of new funds, GNPC is on the brink of bankruptcy. Therefore, Mr Speaker, in supporting the motion, I will want to call the attention of this House for the need to bring GNPC, even is it is a committee of a whole, to bring GNPC before those house for amore critical scrutiny.”
GNPC’s major source of revenue comes from the allocation of its shares of revenue by Parliament under the Petroleum Revenue Management Acta 2011 (Act 815).
Gas sales represented 69 per cent and 72 per cent of total sales in 2021 and 2020 respectively.
Also commenting on the report, Mr Samul Atta Akyea said “As my colleague Dr Donkor has righty said, GNPC can be the cash cow of our economy if it should have proper alignment, I agree.”
He further highlighted some a major challenge facing the GNPC,
He said “One challenge of GNPC which we shouldn’t ignore is the hard fact that, moneys due GNPC can be taken from them by the Ministry of Finance for other purposes.
“There is this understanding that, relating to the state companies, the moneys of the companies are not theirs and that the Ministry of Finance, whenever there is a challenge, can do some maneuvering and takeover the moneys and probably, in good times, these moneys would be returned to the companies.
“There have been instances where the moneys were never returned to the companies and the consequences is clear that that state institution will be deprived of the needed capital to do what is expected of it.”
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana