The Technical Manager of the Public Interest Account Committee (PIAC), Mr Mark Agyemang, has urged the government to restructure the governance system of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) by revising the composition and appointment processes of Board Members of GNPC.
This, according to Mr Agyemang, will allow persons with the technical competence or experience in the extractives industry to provide strategic direction to the National Oil Company (NOC).
This comes after PIAC released its second Issue Paper titled: “The Role of GNPC in the Upstream Petroleum Industry: Challenges and Prospects.”
The paper said the review of the 41-year-old Provisional National Defence Council Law (PNDCL) 64 is necessary for GNPC to diversify and mitigate the existential threat the energy transition agenda poses to NOCs.
Moreover, the appointment to the GNPC Board is governed by PNDCL 64, which allows all board members to be appointed by the President of Ghana, on the advice of the Minister for Energy.
However, “it is believed that persons often affiliated with the ruling administration are appointed to the Board,” causing political interference.
During a live broadcast on Facebook, monitored by The High Street Journal, Mr Agyemang noted that the Board lacked institutional representation, unlike other Organizations such as the Petroleum Commission Board, which has representation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Institution of Geoscientists, and three other persons, one of whom must be a woman.
Given this, he called for the urgent review of the PNDCL 64, which does not provide enough details on the qualifying criteria for appointment to the board of GNPC and for that matter served as an opening for the ruling administration to appoint individuals “with strong allegiances to the party.”
The Technical Manager highlighted the need for the corporation among other things, to take urgent action to retrieve funds owed to it by the state and other government agencies and review its Corporate Social Responsibility activities to commit more funds to cash calls and mandates, especially when its funding from the PHF is expected to cease.
He said GNPC could leverage its existing capabilities and resources, such as engineering and project management skills, access to capital, as well as land and infrastructure assets to engage in electricity generation and distribution, energy efficiency and management as well as energy trading and marketing.
Furthermore, it could expand into renewable energy, such as solar, wind, hydro, and biofuels, as well as other low-carbon or carbon-neutral technologies, such as hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, and electric vehicles.
Mr Agyemang recommended that the government should allow GNPC to operate without political pressure and create sub-shareholder companies to effectively regulate the oil market. “Allow the GNPC to do its own CSR”, he added.
