By El-Amisty Nobo| Follow Amisty on twitter @ElAmistyNobo
The hue and cry surrounding the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation’s sponsorship package for the Black Stars got tweaked on Thursday, July 27 as Parliament advised the State owned company [GNPC] to stay away from activities outside its primary mandate.
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation in 2013 reached a five year sponsorship deal with the Ghana Football Association [GFA] where the GNPC agreed to pay the Black Stars $3,000,000 annually, but lots of eyebrows have been raised about this relationship between the GNPC and the GFA since government changed hands in January 2017.
Majority leader in Parliament – Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu was the first to publicly criticize the GNPC-Black Stars sponsorship deal, which has existed for four years now.
In advancing his argument, the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs [Osei Kyei Mensah] stated categorically that the marriage between the two entities falls outside the jurisdiction of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation. He further went on to question why the GNPC which is a State owned company sponsor the Black Stars which also belongs to the State.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the Legislative House of Ghana [Parliament] approved a report by the Public Interest and Accountability Committee [PIAC] which urged the GNPC to refocus on its core duties as established by law.
Presenting the report [2015] the chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Hon. Kweku Kwarteng said that the GNPC has veered off its core mandate into being a bank lending money to the Black Stars, Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company [BOST], as well as the Tema Oil Refinery [TOR].
“We know what happened with the Black Stars (in 2014) and it was very embarrassing to the government. We know that this is not their core mandate and it needs to focus on that,” Hon. Kweku Kwarteng noted.
“Going forward, we need to make sure that GNPC stops this bad habit of being a bank,” he added.
GNPC was established as a State-owned entity to operate on a commercial basis. The corporation was given legal backing through two main statutes. That is, PNDC Laws 64 and 84.
The corporation’s vision is to become a leading global oil and gas company, whose operations have a profound impact on the quality of life of the people of Ghana.
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