DELIVERED BY THE GHEITI NATIONAL COORDINATOR-MR. FRANKLIN ASHIADEY

Mr. Chairman
Member of the GHEITI NSC
Distinguished Invitees from Government Agencies, and CSO
Ladies and Gentlemen

Good Morning and welcome to today’s workshop on the dissemination of the findings and recommendations of the 2006- 2008 EITI Aggregators reports. The public disclosure of these figures allows for greater scrutiny of how the revenues are being used and provides an important base for government and public debate on the management of public finances. Additionally, by providing detailed reporting and inviting public participation, a government demonstrates its commitment to good governance and builds confidence in public institutions.

The Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM) has proposed that government returned at least 30 percent of the total mineral royalties paid by mining firms to communities in which they operated. The chamber said the amount should be set aside for a specific period of time and ring-fenced for specific infrastructural development within the communities.

Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished Delegates

On behalf of the President of the Republic of Ghana, I wish to thank the EITI Chairman and the Secretariat for extending an invitation to the President of the Republic of Ghana to participate in this important conference. Much as H.E Prof. Evans Atta Mills would have wished to be personally present here today, equally important national assignments which were scheduled earlier than this meeting, have engaged his attention. He has therefore mandated me to make this statement on his behalf. Though not present at this meeting, the President, and his Government remain committed to Ghana‘s implementation of the EITI.

Ghana Extractive Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) meets parliamentarians to sensitize them on recent findings and recommendations of the recently launched 2006-2008 Ghana EITI reports.  Mr Mike Hammah, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, has said the legislation of the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) is critical for demanding revenue data from the extractive companies.

Mr. Henry Ford Kamel, Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, at the weekend spoke against the misapplication of proceeds from royalties paid through the extraction of natural resources. He said as a result, government is fine-tuning a legislation and policy guidelines to make the payment of royalties devoid of abuse.

On 14th December 2010, the GHEITI Secretariat and the National Steering Committee in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning organized a durbar/forum at the Tarkwa Community Centre to sensitize the people on the principles of the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative. Although there have been several instances of sensitization activities for the Media, Civil Society, Companies and other target stakeholders, the Tarkwa Forum was the first of its kind to interact with people at the grass root and in an informal way. 

A global conference will be held for the first time to feature an EITI National Exhibition in PARIS from the 2nd to the 3rd of March 2011 where representatives from EITI implementing countries will be invited to present and share stories from EITI implementation unique to their respective countries. Ghana will mount a stand at this global exhibition and conference.

On 30th November 2010 the Ghana EITI Secretariat in collaboration with Publish What You Pay Coalition (PWYP) organized a knowledge sharing and information gathering workshop for stakeholders involved in the Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) and forestry sector. The workshop was to provide the opportunity for stakeholders to better understand the dynamics of fiscal transparency issues in the forestry sector, particularly with respect to its revenue streams.

About EITI in Ghana

The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) was launched by the UK Prime Minister at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, September 2002. 

The initiative encourages, government, extractive companies, International agencies and NGO’s to work together to develop a framework to promote transparency of payments in the extractive industries. The EITI therefore seeks to create that missing transparency and accountability in revenue flows from the extractive industry.

The Ghana EITI together with GTZ and SAP are underway to implement the IT reporting base software. In this regard, a training workshop was organized for the end users of the software and other relevant stakeholders. The purpose of the training was to give end users a hands on training for the use of the software.