Ken Agyapong: Don�t Approve GNPC Budget Until Detailed Expenditure Is Done

Member of Parliament (MP) for Assin Central, Hon. Kennedy Agyapong has told the �Parliamentary select committee on energy to impress on the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to furnish the committee with a detailed break-down of their expenditure before approving their budget�. He stated that, �they must ask the GNPC what they did with the $61m given to them�they must be made to explain what they have done with the money they got from lifting two shipments of oil between December and March before agreeing to their financial plan�. The admonishment comes hours before the GNPC presents its budget before the select Committee on energy in Parliament on Friday. The corporation was established in 1983 as a state-owned company with the statutory backing of PNDC Laws 64 and 84. The laws mandated the corporation to engage in exploration, production and disposal of petroleum products. The laws also established the legal structure that informed the corporation in contractual agreements between the Government of Ghana and private oil exploration companies. In 1987, the Petroleum Income Tax Law was added to the corporation's mandate to permit it to tax various petroleum products for consumption. The law was the PNDC Law 188. It is for this and many other duties the GNPC performs on behalf of Ghanaians that the representative of the people of Assin Central in Parliament, wants a comprehensive account of how the tax payers� money has been expensed. Speaking on Adom FM, the enthusiastic MP from Assin Central made it clear that until GNPC is able to show how they are going to spend the money they are asking for, and also account for what has already been spent, the committee should agree on any more funds to them.