Ghana’s decision to channel all petroleum revenues into the government’s flagship Big Push infrastructure program has exposed a fresh accountability gap, with extractive governance experts warning that there is currently no dedicated public system for tracking exactly how the country’s oil revenues are being spent.
Former Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) Chairman and Co-Chair of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI), Dr. Steve Manteaw, says PIAC should develop a project-level monitoring framework that allows Ghanaians to trace every petroleum dollar financing the programme.
Dr. Manteaw maintained that PIAC had both the experience and the legal responsibility to ensure the public can follow how petroleum revenues are being utilised under the Big Push agenda.
“It doesn’t seem we have enough information on the Big Push, but the information exists. We just haven’t made the effort to get it,” he said.
Learning from Free SHS
Dr. Manteaw recalled that when government allocated a significant portion of petroleum revenues to finance the Free Senior High School programme, PIAC developed a monitoring framework that tracked how the funds were spent.
The system monitored the proportion of petroleum revenues used for infrastructure and recurrent expenditure to ensure compliance with the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), which requires at least 70 percent of the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) to finance capital expenditure.
“We designed a framework for monitoring the expenditure of petroleum revenues on Free SHS, how much went into infrastructure and how much went into recurrent expenditure,” he said.
He believes the same level of oversight should now be applied as government commits all ABFA petroleum revenues to the Big Push infrastructure programme.
Following the Money
According to Dr. Manteaw, the Finance Minister has assured stakeholders that petroleum revenues earmarked for the Big Push are not being mixed with other government resources.
Instead, the money has been lodged in a dedicated Ghana Infrastructure Fund Holding Account, making it possible to track separately from the Consolidated Fund.
“The minister says he wants to be as transparent as possible. He has set up an account for these monies. They are not going to commingle with other funds in the Consolidated Fund,” he explained.
He said establishing the account is only the first step. The next priority, he argued, is to create a reporting framework that links every petroleum-funded expenditure to specific infrastructure projects.
“It is up to PIAC, which is responsible for our oil money, to have a framework to track exactly what projects and expenditures these monies are financing and make it part of their PIAC report,” he said.
He said such a framework would enable Parliament, civil society organisations and the public to monitor whether petroleum revenues are financing the projects government says they are and whether the expenditure delivers value for money.
PIAC Flags Initial ABFA Allocation to Big Push
While Dr. Manteaw’s proposal focuses on strengthening future oversight, PIAC’s latest Annual Report has already documented how the first tranche of petroleum revenue allocated to the Big Push programme has been handled.
The Committee reported that the entire US$434.55 million ABFA allocated for infrastructure development in 2025 was transferred to the Ghana Investment and Infrastructure Fund (GIIF) to support government’s Big Push programme, specifically the proposed Accra-Kumasi Expressway Project.
According to PIAC, GIIF confirmed that it had received the funds and that the money was being held at the Bank of Ghana pending completion of feasibility studies for the project.
The Committee further reported that the Ministry of Finance had explained that the transfer represented seed capital to finance feasibility studies, transaction advisory services and preparatory activities required before implementation.
According to the Ministry, the project will be executed through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) established under GIIF. The arrangement, it said, is intended to ring-fence the funds, enhance transparency and accountability, and facilitate private sector participation through blended financing.
PIAC nevertheless observed that while the latest amendments to the Petroleum Revenue Management Act removed GIIF as an institution designated to receive a share of the ABFA for infrastructure development, the Fund had received the entire infrastructure allocation.
“This raises questions of consistency with law and practice,” the Committee noted.
Preventing Misuse
Dr. Manteaw said project-level monitoring remains the strongest safeguard against the abuse or misapplication of petroleum revenues.
He suggested that while PIAC focuses on petroleum revenues, civil society organisations could undertake similar oversight of mineral royalties, which government has also committed to financing the Big Push programme.
“That is the only way we can avoid abuse or misapplication of funds,” he said.
According to figures cited by Dr. Manteaw, about US$1.6 billion currently sits in the Ghana Infrastructure Fund Holding Account awaiting deployment for infrastructure projects.
He noted that government intends to use part of the funds to construct the proposed Accra-Kumasi Expressway without resorting to external borrowing.
“For me, the standard and efficiency of expenditure are what we need to track,” he added.
Broader Calls for Government Accountability
Beyond calls for stronger project-level monitoring, civil society organisations are also demanding fuller disclosure on the overall management of petroleum revenues.
Policy Lead for Petroleum and Conventional Energy at the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Kojo Yaotse, said government should provide a comprehensive account of the status of petroleum funds committed to the Big Push programme as well as all projects financed through the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA), in line with the Petroleum Revenue Management Act.
According to him, transparency should not end with announcing allocations but should extend to regular public reporting on how the funds are being deployed and the progress of projects financed with petroleum revenues.
Mr. Yaotse also raised concerns over US$561.65 million in petroleum revenues held by the Joint Operating Holding Limited (JOHL)/Explorco, saying the funds remain outside the accountability and reporting framework established under the PRMA.
He argued that petroleum revenues, regardless of where they are held, should be subjected to the same disclosure and accountability standards to strengthen public confidence in the management of Ghana’s oil wealth.
Government Must Demonstrate Results
The call for transparency was further reinforced by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), which believes the establishment of a dedicated account should be matched with clear public reporting on how the funds are utilised.
NRGI Ghana Country Manager Patrick Stephenson said while the Finance Minister may have acted with the best intentions by ring-fencing the petroleum revenues, stronger mechanisms are needed to demonstrate how the resources support government’s infrastructure drive.
“As good intentioned as the Finance Minister may be, we need some mechanism around how to properly figure out the extent to which some of the money supports government’s infrastructure drive,” he said.
Mr. Stephenson also questioned whether all projects currently financed under the Big Push should depend entirely on public resources.
He argued that commercially viable infrastructure projects could attract private investment, allowing petroleum revenues to be prioritised for critical social infrastructure that is less likely to secure commercial financing.
“When I think of the projects under the Big Push, some of them are really commercially viable projects that we may even just need to ride on the back of some government counterparty to do. We can then prioritise investments in the social infrastructure that we don’t have,” he said.
He singled out the proposed Accra-Kumasi Expressway as one project that could potentially attract commercial financing.
A Test of Accountability
The Big Push represents one of the largest commitments of petroleum revenues since Ghana began commercial oil production, making transparency over the programme as important as the infrastructure it is expected to deliver.
PIAC has already documented the initial movement of the first ABFA allocation into the Ghana Infrastructure Fund and recorded government’s explanation for how the money is expected to be used. The next phase will be watched just as closely.
Government will be expected to demonstrate that the ring-fenced petroleum revenues translate into completed infrastructure projects and continue providing regular updates on how the funds are deployed. At the same time, calls from extractive governance experts and civil society organisations point to growing public expectations for stronger oversight and greater visibility over every stage of the expenditure process.
Ultimately, the success of the Big Push will be judged not only by the roads, bridges and other infrastructure it delivers, but also by the confidence Ghanaians have that every petroleum dollar committed to the programme can be traced, accounted for and shown to have delivered value for money.
