A pressure group which champions responsible management of natural resources in the country, is urging the various stools and traditional councils across the country to publish royalties paid to them by extractive companies operating in their jurisdictions. The Revenue Watch Institute says that will ensure transparency and accountability by the various stools. This has become necessary following agitations by some youth in the various mining localities for the District Assemblies which also collect a chunk of the revenues to declare amounts they raise by way of royalties. The Regional Chapter of Revenue Watch Institute which is championing this cause insists traditional leaders must also be made more accountable to their people. “It is very difficult to know what these monies have been used for partly because of the way the constitution puts it” Emmanuel Kuele Regional Coordinator of the Revenue Watch Institute told Joy News, adding "since the traditional authorities and the council have also a responsibility to support development, we think that if they also publish how much they get in the form of revenues, their communities and the people they lead will know what they are using this revenue for." He said it is in the interest of the chiefs themselves to make the revenues public to the people. “It is also helpful for the chiefs themselves because they will then know the basis on which they are getting what they are getting," he said. But the former President of the National House of Chiefs Odeneho Juapong Ababio said the country must tread cautiously. He said the traditional councils are already accountable to its people, adding in some cases the constitution spells out the use to which the revenue accrued from the collection of some royalties must be put to. “If people are agitating for such a publication and for what purpose, what is the intent? we need to be very careful not to create problems from within the traditional rulers or those who are in-charge in disbursing such funds,” he said. Asked if the publication would not promote accountability, he said when demands for accountability turn out to be negative, the country needs to be careful. Source: Myjoyonline.com/Ghana