PIAC Raises Concern Over Quality of Oil-Funded Projects in Ghana
Ghana’s Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has called on the government to bring Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) more directly into the planning and execution of petroleum-funded projects, citing concerns about the quality of work being delivered to communities.
According to a report carried by AllAfrica from the Ghanaian Times, PIAC argued that local assemblies, which are closer to citizens and better placed to identify priority needs, are frequently sidelined during the early stages of projects financed with oil revenues. The committee said direct involvement of MMDAs would improve both the relevance of the investments and the standard of infrastructure ultimately delivered.
PIAC is an independent oversight body established under Ghana’s Petroleum Revenue Management Act of 2011. Its mandate is to monitor how the country’s petroleum receipts are collected, invested and spent, and to publish regular reports on the use of oil funds. The committee was set up partly in response to public demand for transparency after commercial oil production began at the Jubilee field in 2010.
Ghana channels a portion of its annual petroleum revenues into priority areas such as infrastructure, education, health and agricultural modernisation. PIAC has, in previous annual reports, raised similar concerns about procurement practices, supervision arrangements and the durability of completed projects in several districts. By recommending deeper engagement with MMDAs, the committee is effectively urging a return to the original intent of the revenue management framework, which envisioned local-level participation as a safeguard against poorly planned or low-quality investments.
The committee’s latest call comes amid continued scrutiny of how Ghana’s oil windfall is being translated into tangible development outcomes for ordinary citizens, particularly in rural and underserved districts where the quality of public infrastructure remains a recurring concern.
Sources
This report was written from coverage published by the following news organisations. Follow the links for the original reporting.
