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| Stakeholder Consultation On Legislation For The Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI): The Way Forward |
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Mr. Chairman, Members of the NSC, Friends from Civil Society, Our Legal Consultants, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for the opportunity to open this Stakeholder Consultation workshop on the legislation of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI). As you may all be ware, Ghana has been implementing the EITI since 2003 and has made a remarkable progress. There is a well functioning Multi-Stakeholder National Steering Committee governing the Ghana EITI with a very active civil society involvement, Ghana EITI Secretariat has also been established at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, a comprehensive work plan is in place and it is being actively implemented , three EITI Reports have so far been produced, an EITI website for information dissemination was developed and a framework to extend GHEITI to oil and gas has also been developed, and finally the Ghana EITI is presently being validated . The validation will end by mid -February and Ghana is expected to become an EITI compliant country. Mr. Chairman, this workshop marks a very important stage in the implementation of Ghana’s EITI process. The legislation of the GHEITI you will agree with me is critical to the implementation of the principles of the EITI. So far, countries like Nigeria, Liberia and Azerbaijan have legislated the EITI in order to remove all legal obstacles to the implementation of the initiative in their countries. Ghana EITI is also aspiring to do the same. As some of you may recall, in June, 2007 an EITI workshop for the Parliamentary Select Committee on Mines and Energy was held at Agona Swedru to consider backing the Ghana EITI by law. One of the major recommendations from that workshop was the need to undertake a study to review the existing laws relating to the extractive sector revenue management and transparency; i.e. the Financial Administration Act, 2003 (FAA), the Financial Regulation, 2004 (LI 1802) , Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584), the Minerals and Mining Law, 2006 , the Local Government Act, Act, 1993 etc and to find out the extent to which they promote transparency, accountability and discloser of information or otherwise before any decision on the way forward for the Ghana EITI legislation could be considered. Distinguished Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad to inform you that with the support of GTZ the study was done and this forms the basis of today’s workshop. Ladies and gentlemen, as I have earlier indicated, Ghana has so far produced three EITI reports on the mining sector, authored by an independent aggregator. The work of the aggregator for the mining sector has unveiled a number of challenges that would have to be addressed if the country is to maximize national benefits from signing on to the initiative. So far, barriers to EITI implementation in Ghana have been identified. It is envisaged that the country’s oil and gas sector which has been crudely estimated to have the potential to generate US$250 million annually to government would pose even greater challenges. The most daunting task is information disclosure from both mining companies and national revenue management agencies. It is largely agreed that a legal recognition and backing to the EITI process is a sure means to ensuring that government and all companies disclose their payments and revenue data. It is also argued that a legal backing to the initiative in Ghana would help address some of the challenges so far identified by the three EITI reports and other challenges that have come to the fore, informed by the day to day implementation of the initiative by the Multi Stakeholder Steering Committee. While EITI can deliver many benefits as a stand-alone initiative, it is likely to work particularly well when there is long-term strategy for mainstreaming EITI to improve the governance of extractive industries. In the views of many these coordinated linkages can only be achieved if there is a well thought out law that addresses these linkage challenges. The objective of this workshop therefore is to dispassionately discuss the issues and determine the way forward for legislation of the Ghana EITI. We have amongst us legal experts to help us do that. Before I take my seat I would like to use this platform to thank you all especially our partner GTZ for the support and commitment to the Ghana EITI process so far. Thank you and I wish you a successful workshop. |
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