Deputy Minister-Designate for Energy, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam
Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, Deputy Minister-designate for Energy, says the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (815), is considered as one of the best in the world.
According to him, the transparency mechanism of the law is such that it can hold the government accountable.
Dr Amin Adam made the disclosure when he appeared before the Appointment Committee of Parliament for vetting for the position of Deputy Minister.
The nominee held the same ministerial portfolio during the first term of office of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Dr Amin Adam explained that apart from the transparency issues, there were other provisions in the law, which required quarterly, semi-annual and annual disclosures.
He said the unique feature of the Act for accountability was the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), which had served the country well.
Dr Amin Adam, however, stated that there were challenges with the Act, especially how the country spends its oil money.
He said the country currently spread the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) thinly over so many projects and as a result there were project and cost overruns, adding that projects were not completed for the people to benefit.
He, therefore, called for a review of the law on how the country spent the ABFA with a focus on legacy projects that gave greater impact to development in the communities.
He also raised concerns regarding the silence of the law on unspent ABFA for the year and how to treat those unspent monies per the Public Financial Management Act where balances on government account are swept into the treasury single account.
Dr Adam said the country needed to consider a review of the law on how to treat unspent balances on the ABFA.
Dr Amin Adam also disclosed that the Ministry of Energy was considering a merger of the Petroleum Commission and the Energy Commission.
He said the process to merge the two institutions started two years ago when they commenced a discussion of institutional realignment of the sector.
He said there were too many institutions involved in regulating the same industry and that over-regulation was one of the problems of investors.
He said the objective was to bring efficiency into the sector, particularly in regulation as well as lessen the burden of investors.