Audio By Carbonatix
The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) may soon become a white elephant if government does not resource it financially.
The committee has a core mandate to monitor and evaluate compliance of the petroleum revenue management law and ensure prudent use of petroleum revenues but that mandate is under threat because PIAC is cash-strapped.
The committee is even faced with a headache of possible ejection from its offices for its inability to pay rent.
Chairman of PIAC, Major Daniel Sowah Ablorh-Quarcoo told Joy News the situation is deplorable.
"We have received an ejection notice from the office secretariat we occupy at Asylum Down and this is because for the whole year of 2014 out of the budget that we presented, 50 per cent was approved and out of the 50 per cent we have received only 25 per cent.
"This you can see is seriously inadequate and for that reason we have not been able to do quite a number of the things that this committee is mandated to do."
Even though the law required the committee to hold public meetings to solicit public opinion on how to manage the petroleum revenue, Major Ablorh-Quarcoo said those meetings could not be held due to lack of funds.
The Finance Minister Seth Terpker told Joy News he is unaware of the dire situation PIAC finds itself in.
He was surprised why such an emergency situation had not been brought to his notice.
He assured however, that the government was not going to allow PIAC to collapse.
"It is not the intention of the Ministry of Finance to let an institution like PIAC lose its offices on account of budgetary constraints.
"Some releases have been made to the institution", he stated.
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