The Minority caucus in Parliament, has asked the government to immediately transfer shares held by Jubilee Holdings Limited (JOHL) to the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC).

The NDC MPs say this will prove that the government is exercising the needed oversight of state assets. 

In a press statement issued on Tuesday, May 30, and signed by the Minority Leader, Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, the caucus said the transfer will show that the government is monitoring the revenues accruing from Ghana's petroleum resources.

The side says it will not countenance any further delay of the transfer of the JOHL shares. 

“By this statement, the Minority calls on the Akufo-Addo/Bawumia NPP government to transfer the shares held by JOHL to GNPC without delay, in order that Ghanaians can be assured that appropriate oversight is being exercised on these assets by Parliament and other stakeholders.”

“This will only go a long way to ensure proper accountability and effective monitoring of the revenues accruing from our petroleum resources.”

Recently, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), has captured the headlines due to some of its questionable dealings.

Its Board Chairman, Freddie Blay’s attempt to offer PetroSA an equal split in the interest held by GNPC’s subsidiary Jubilee Oil Holdings Ltd, hit a snag after the Energy Minister intervened.

The Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, wrote to the President Akufo-Addo demanding his intervention. 

Some 29 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) also demanded the removal of the Board Chairman and GNPC’s CEO, Opoku Awhenie Danquah.

The CSOs, made up of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP), Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), the Chamber of Petroleum Consumers Ghana (COPEC) and 26 others, say the two men have “become a threat to Ghana’s interest in the petroleum sector.”

In a statement endorsed by representatives from all 29 CSOs and sighted by JoyNews, the coalition argued that a country being micromanaged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), cannot be seen to be engaging in fiscal recklessness.

The group is also demanding complete information on the AFC transaction and the actual amount that would constitute petroleum cost and the immediate closure of the Aker PoD from the Petroleum Commission and the government.”

However, Mr Blay in a JoyNews interview said he had ceased his involvement in the deal. 

Freddie Blay said this based on the directive of the Energy Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh. 

“As I talk to you now, I have ceased and I have desisted in accordance and with the directives of my supervising minister,” he said in an interview with JoyNews on Saturday, May 26.