[ 2014-10-31 ]

Cash-trapped PIAC faces ejection
The Public Interest and Accountability Committee
(PIAC) may soon become a white elephant if
government does not resource it financially.

The committee has a core mandate to monitor and
evaluate compliance of the petroleum revenue
management law and ensure prudent use of petroleum
revenues but that mandate is under threat because
PIAC is cash-strapped.

The committee is even faced with a headache of
possible ejection from its offices for its
inability to pay rent.

Chairman of PIAC, Major Daniel Sowah
Ablorh-Quarcoo told Joy News the situation is
deplorable.

"We have received an ejection notice from the
office secretariat we occupy at Asylum Down and
this is because for the whole year of 2014 out of
the budget that we presented, 50 per cent was
approved and out of the 50 per cent we have
received only 25 per cent.

"This you can see is seriously inadequate and for
that reason we have not been able to do quite a
number of the things that this committee is
mandated to do."

Even though the law required the committee to hold
public meetings to solicit public opinion on how
to manage the petroleum revenue, Major
Ablorh-Quarcoo said those meetings could not be
held due to lack of funds.

The Finance Minister Seth Terpker told Joy News he
is unaware of the dire situation PIAC finds itself
in.

He was surprised why such an emergency situation
had not been brought to his notice.

He assured however, that the government was not
going to allow PIAC to collapse.

"It is not the intention of the Ministry of
Finance to let an institution like PIAC lose its
offices on account of budgetary constraints.

"Some releases have been made to the institution",
he stated.

Source - MyjoyOnline

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