Mr. Chairman
Nananom,
Honourable Assembly Members,
Members of the GHEITI NSC,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen.

Good morning and Welcome to this morning sensitization workshop on the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Ghana. We are in Jomoro today not only because it is in the Western Region where the bulk of our natural resources are found and produced, but because you are in the catchment area of where our new natural resources, namely oil and gas is found.

The Ghana EITI in collaboration with the Chamber of Mines wishes to organize mines study tour for members of the Ghana National Steering Committee and EITI sensitization workshop for faculty members and students of the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa (UMaT).

The Ghana EITI Secretariat in collaboration with Revenue Watch Institute wish to invite you to a two-day capacity building workshop on petroleum revenue management and EITI reporting templates for members of Ghana EITI multi-stakeholder group/Secretariat.

Ms Sherry Ayittey, Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, has commended the Aboso Goldfields Limited (AGL), Damang in the Western Region, for honouring its corporate social responsibility. This follows a working visit to Damang on Friday during which she assessed the company's operations and projects for the community.

By Frederick Asiamah

Ghana is set to produce its first report on payments of taxes by oil companies to government under the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) this year. Mr. M. Bashiru Abdul-Razak of the Ghana EM (GHEITI) Secretariat, who disclosed the information at a meeting in Accra, also hinted Public Agenda that managers of the process anticipate that the aggregator (consultant" would complete his work by August, allowing for the launch or the report before the close of 2012.

By Frederick Asiamah

The Ghana government is still far from excellent performance as far as transparency in the petroleum sector is concerned, according to a new report by the Accra-based think tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). In its Petroleum Transparency and Accountability Index (IEA P- TRAC Index), which monitors progress made in respect of the transparent management of the oil and gas sector in the year 2011, the IEA scores government 59.7%, which is just below the B+ grade if the grading system of the School of Research and Graduate Studies of University of Ghana were used as a yardstick.

Ghana stands to reap greater benefits from improved local procurement in the mining sector than it is currently getting from relying on royalties and corporate taxes; various experts have stated in the light of centuries of exploitation of the mineral resources of the country without much to show for it. The World Bank, the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and academics agree that when mining companies buy more local goods and services than they are presently doing, the country will gain over fourfold more than it is garnering from royalties from multinational miners.