THE YOUTH Wing of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is fighting the National Democratic Congress (NDC), saying the opposition party is engaging in disinformation on the Stabilization and Heritage funds.
According to the NPP youth, the claim by the NDC that the Stabilization and Heritage funds came to being through the ingenuity of its flag bearer, ex-President John Dramani Mahama, is not only false but also “smacks of juvenile propaganda.”
In a statement, the NPP Youth Wing said events leading to the development and enactment of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2011 (Act 893) which gave birth to both the Stabilization Fund and the Heritage Fund do not support the NDC’s claim.
“The facts rather show conclusively that the NDC government was never interested in social accountability, and therefore was lackadaisical in enacting the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, and by extension the Stabilization Fund and Heritage Fund,” the statement indicated.
It said emphatically that the process leading to the establishment of an effective and relevant legislative and regulatory framework to manage Ghana’s oil sector and its revenue began in 2008 under the administration of former President John Agyekum Kufuor of the NPP.
They said if any grouping wanted to take credit for the Stabilization and Heritage funds then it should go the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas that fought hard for it and not the NDC members who even kicked against the idea.
The youth group explained that the NPP government, in a move to prevent Ghana from falling into the trap of resource/oil curse in February 2008, organized the first national conference on oil and gas management which was attended by representatives of various civil society groups.
At the meeting, the stakeholders deliberated on how to assist the government in drafting legislation to ring-fence funds accrued from the oil sector.
The statement said prior to the meeting, the NPP government was collaborating with the Norwegian government to build capacity and develop policy framework to deal with issues of petroleum revenue and resource management, as well as environmental, security and other related issues.
It added that this was captured in paragraph 170 of the 2008 budget of the government to Parliament, pointing out that the NDC, upon realizing the high performance ratings of the Akufo-Addo government after using funds from the stabilization fund to mitigate the impact of Covid-19, was looking for an opportunity to share credit with the government.
“President Akufo-Addo, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, has implemented a good number of programmes and initiatives that have significantly cushioned Ghanaians and ameliorated the economic challenges confronting them as a result of the pandemic.
“These measures by the government were greeted with loud cheers and commendation from Ghanaians,” the NPP Youth Wing noted.
The NPP youth group affirmed that the civil society groups should rather seek credit if any, as they were instrumental in demanding and the crafting of the legal framework after piling pressure on the NDC government.
He said there were records to show that the then Minority NPP were active to get the fund done, and the civil society groups also did well in the push and not the NDC that wants to do propaganda with the matter.
By Ernest Kofi Adu