Report by Nana POKU
The former Chairman of the People’s Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) Dr Steve Manteaw has kicked against the use of proceeds from Ghana’s oil wealth in the Heritage Fund to run the Free SHS programme.
Speaking at a lecture he had at the British Council on The Extractive Industries, Environment and Climate Change, he vehemently took a swipe at that decision claiming it is wrong.
“I support the Free SHS concept in toto, but I don’t ascribe to its mode of funding. It is a good concept that has paved way for most poor Ghanaian children to access free education like myself who used scholarship throughout to Ph D level. However, using the Heritage Fund meant for future generations is not a wise decision,“ he complained.
He advocated for the investment of the oil money to yield returns that can be used for the SHS funding instead of using the actual money to do that.
“We can also establish factories to give employment to citizens to work in to be able to pay for their wards fees than what we are doing now. Better still, the money can be used to undertake capital projects that can bear dividends in future like the 300 million dollars that was used to construct the Terminal 2 at the KIA which is paying itself through the port charges it generates,” he said.
Dr. Manteaw opined that using 1/3 of the Heritage to fund the SHS will eventually deplete it. He revealed that our oil reserve is fast running out and we have to use its proceeds judiciously.
Giving an account of the oil proceeds, he told the forum that PIAC was set up to guide policymakers with previous experience from the extractive industries. Ghana he claimed does not have enough benefits from the mining so CSOs and citizens called for more transparency and accountability when oil was discovered in 2007. As a result, PIAC was born in 2011 to ensure proper record-keeping in the industry.
He alleged that a lot of infractions have characterized the oil industry but PIAC does report on them only but cannot prosecute offenders.
