By Emelia B. Addae
New Abirem (E/R), Oct. 17, GNA-The Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) Secretariat, hosted by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoF), has held a dissemination workshop for the 2021/2022 reports on the mining, oil, and gas sectors.
The GHEITI reports included a maiden 2020 Artisanal Small-scale Mining (ASM) sector report, and provides a comprehensive overview of the latest findings, recommendations, and progress in these sectors.
The event was held at New Abirem in the Birim North District and brought together the media, representatives of the Office of the Administration of Stool Lands, Women group, Environmental Protection Agency, Civil Society Organisations, Minerals Commission among others.
Dr. Steve Manteaw, Co-Chair of GHEITI, stated Ghana joined the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in 2003. Despite being a global initiative, EITI was viewed in the country as a tool to address policy challenges and gaps in its extractive industries, not just a reporting mechanism.
He urged district assemblies to involve community members in implementing plans and programmes to utilise mineral royalty allocation sfor development.
During a presentation on the oil and gas sector, Mr. Francis Samanhyia of the Multi-Stakeholders Group of GHEITI highlighted that, as seen in the 2020 report, the duration of all licenses specified in individual personal account services wer not summarised into a table format that allowed users to have a complete overview briefly.
It was recommended that the Petroleum Commission be encouraged to summarise license tenure information in various contracts and other essential contractual details for ease of reference.
The total crude oil exports for 2022 as reported by the Bank of Ghana were 67,458,206 barrels valued at 2,910.6 million dollars.
This accounted for 31.19 per cent of total merchandise exports in 2022. In 2021, the total value of crude oil exports was US$3,947.73 million, representing 26.81 percent of gross merchandise exports.
In the inaugural Artisanal Small-scale Mining sector report, it was noted that while Ghana’s mining sector benefited from a comprehensive legal, regulatory and institutional framework, it was recommended that the existing framework be strengthened, monitored and improved to address emerging challenges and enhance contributions to national development.
Additionally, there was limited representation of ASM in policy formulation and it was recommended that barriers be removed to decentralize and streamline ASM licensing, addressing concerns about taxation.
Mr. Seth Kwame Acheampong, Eastern Regional Minister, mentioned that, to combat illicit financial flows from the country’s extractive sector, Ghana had focused on countermeasures, including the establishment of a Beneficial Ownership (BO) disclosure regime.
The government amended the Companies Act, of 1963 (Act 179) in 2016 to include BO provisions. A new Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992) has been enacted to address the BO gaps in Act 179.
The government also provided logistical support to the Office of the Registrar of Companies (ORC) for the establishment and operation of the BO register.
These measures improved Customer Due Diligence (CDD) in license awards and reduced corruption incentives in the extractive industry.
“Today, with a click of a button, the actual Beneficial Owners of those who seek licenses for exploratory activities or to provide support services can be determined,” he noted.
GNA