Mahama Criticize Gov’t Over Missing $100 Million Oil Money

Former President John Dramani Mahama has reacted to news of $100 million dollars allegedly missing from the petroleum funds.

He says the $100 million that has been diverted from petroleum funds for unapproved expenditure is most disconcerting.

Last week, the Minority in Parliament sent a strong warning to the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, to repatriate all funds accrued from the oil revenue into the Petroleum Holding Fund (PHF).

They alleged that monies accruing from oil sales from the Jubilee and TEN fields are being transferred to an off-shore company.

This, they say, is in contravention of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) as revenues are not being paid into the Fund.

Former President Mahama has taken to social media to add his voice to the calls for the government to return the money.

He wrote the following on his Facebook Page on Monday, October 3, 2022.

“News that some $100 million has been diverted from petroleum funds for unapproved expenditure is most disconcerting.

Section 3 of the PRMA (Act 815) is explicit that all Petroleum revenue due the Republic derived from whatever source shall be assessed, collected and accounted for by the Ghana Revenue Authority

Section (15) of the Petroleum Exploration and Production Act (Act 919), is also clear that “Any borrowing exceeding the cedi equivalent of thirty million United States Dollars for the purpose of exploration, development and production shall be approved by Parliament and shall be in consonance with the Petroleum Revenue Management Act.”

There can be no justification for diverting revenues accruing from the nation’s share of petroleum resources into any other account aside the PHF.

The Minister for Finance must as a matter of urgency repatriate all such illegal payments back into the PHF without delay as there is no record to confirm parliamentary approval on any such loans acquired by GNPC in their work programme”.