Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah
Deputy Minority Leader and MP for Ellembelle, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, has called for a revision to the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA) to re-focus petroleum revenues allotted to support the country’s annual budget on large-ticket projects.
According to him, the country cannot boast of any major projects funded with Ghana’s oil money, and he wants the nation to take a decision to do so as the country’s oil wealth begins to deplete.
Speaking to the media in Parliament after taking part in the 2024 budget debate, Mr. Buah said, “I am sure everybody will start thinking. We are not sure.”
“I think it is important that we revisit that issue and make sure that in the next 10 years we amend the petroleum revenue management act to focus revenue from the annual budget funding amount solely on development of big ticket items,” he stated.
The Ellembelle MP suggested, “We can pick two big items and say that in the next 10 years we will focus on railway development.”
“The whole Ghana will know that 10 years this is what the oil money has been used for,” he noted.
“We can also focus on the Ghana super highway where we dedicate it (oil money) to developing a highway from Half Assini to Bawku and to Accra,” he added.
Mr. Buah said if one checks the history of roads in Ghana, almost every road in the country was constructed because there was a community at the place.
“We need to create highways and crown our country so that when you want to travel around the country within two days you do it without any interruption,” he asserted.
He stated that, for the most part, throughout the period of oil production and revenue reporting, it has been the Minister of Finance who has given the directions in carrying out how those funds are applied.
“There are specific areas that have been allotted. But frankly if I ask you today, after all these years of oil production, exactly where have we used the oil money?
He said he was aware plans were in place, but he was quick to add that unfortunately for the nation, reports from PIAC have pointed to a decline in the three producing fields.
“Why because this government that has talked so much about has nothing to show for it and has not been able to add additional producing fields,” he posited.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House