The Minority in Parliament is accusing President Akufo-Addo of unlawfully asking the state oil company, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to borrow to fund its activities without the approval of Parliament.
Just before Parliament went on recess, GNPC sought approval from the Mines and Energy Committee to borrow more than $600 million.
However, the committee asked the company to bring the terms and conditions of the loan to the House for consideration in accordance with Article 181 of the Constitution.
Meanwhile, the Minority says the President has asked GNPC to proceed to borrow, in contravention of Ghana’s laws.
“To our utmost shock, I have come across documents – the Minority side in particular has become aware that the presidency is using coercive force to compel the GNPC to proceed and execute this loan agreement without parliamentary approval,” said Minority Spokesperson on Mines and Energy, John Jinapor.
He added “This is unconstitutional, this is unlawful and this is a blatant disregard to the directive and resolution of Parliament.”
Mr Jinapor also tells journalists that copies of the loan terms their side has intercepted are completely skewed against Ghana as the country will lose more than 5 years of oil revenue from the TEN oil field.
According to him, “If we allow government to plunder our oil resources will affect future generations.”
“Indeed, all of the oil in the TEN field has been incumbent including royalties, surface rentals and our current participatory interest – all of it for the next five and half years. Every year, the minimum of 3.8 million barrels of our crude oil will be given to Litasco,” he said.
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