Ghana has been lauded for developing a transparent framework for managing its petroleum resources lately but major challenges must be tackled to move it to the comfort zone, Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Mohammed Amin Adam, has noted.

Welcoming participants to an international conference held in Accra by ACEP with support from Ibis Ghana and Oxfam, Mr Adam said Ghana faces serious risks in relation to oil and mineral resource management due to its inability to extend transparency to the whole extractive industries value chain.

Commending policy directives issued recently by President John Mahama to the Ministries of Energy and Lands & Natural Resources to map out potential areas of resource accumulation and adopt a public auction process for licensing concessions, Mr Adam said though the directives are aimed at enhancing transparency and accountability in Ghana’s licensing regime, no frameworks have been established to implement them.

He therefore called for a new Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill to help implement President Mahama’s directives and also appealed to the Ministry of Lands & Natural Resources to amend the Minerals and Mining Act of 2006 to allow for an open and competitive procedure for granting mineral concessions.

Themed: “The Role of International Transparency Initiatives as Tools for Accountability in Africa’s Extractive Industries,” the conference witnessed about 50 participants from Ghana, Liberia, Mozambique, Europe and the USA.

Participants also discussed opportunities offered by international initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the Dodd Frank Reforms Act of the United States and the most recent law on payment disclosure, which have implications for resource-rich countries in Africa, which mostly lack good governance frameworks for harnessing their potential for the development of their citizens.

Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah, Minister of Energy & Petroleum Resources, in a speech read on his behalf, said Ghana has reached an advanced stage in the development of legislation for the effective implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

He said the Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill, 2013 was being finalized for submission to Cabinet. The minister stated that Ghana has so far produced reports for 2004 to 2011 for the mining sector and published the maiden report for the oil and gas sector for 2010/2011 since it signed onto it in 2003.

Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, in a speech read on his behalf, noted that to ensure transparency in the management of ceded royalties to mining communities, government has resolved to draft a Mineral Development Fund Bill.

The EITI has been in practice in Ghana with an extension to the oil and gas sector to ensure transparency and accountability in the reporting and utilization of oil revenue.