Communique By Participants On Corruption On Oil & Gas

After ?a two (2) day workshop on the application of the National Anti-Corruption Action plan in the oil and gas industry, which focused on Corruption in Petroleum Contracting and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), and which was attended by the various Anti-Corruption Agencies of State, the Media, and Civil Society Organizations; ably organized and facilitated by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) and lawyers from US law firm Bakerhostetler, and? sponsored by STAR Ghana, on the 26^th and 27^th of June 2014, ?the participants at the end issued a communique ?that was distributed Parliamentary Sub-Committee ?On Constitution and Energy, the Minister of Energy, the Attorney General office and the media below we published unedited the full communique. They ?have observed that:

1. The emerging oil and gas industry increases the risk of official corruption and poses a serious threat to the governance of the country.?
2. The experience of many oil producing countries shows that oil induced corruption could turn Ghana’s oil wealth into a curse and that all efforts must be made to prevent this.
3. The process for awarding petroleum contracts in Ghana is administrative and thereby provides room for abuse by public officials.
4. Corruption as described by President Mahama is “mass murder” and deprives many people of basic necessities of life.

We therefore declare as follows:

• ?That Parliament should expedite discussions and adoption of the National Anti-Corruption Action plan as a comprehensive response to corruption in Ghana.
• That anti-corruption clauses should be incorporated in the new Petroleum Laws, the Regulations and Petroleum Agreements to reduce the incentives for corruption.
• ?That Parliament should expedite consideration and passing of the Right to information Bill into Law.
• ?That the discretionary powers conferred on the Minister responsible for Petroleum to decide persons who qualify to hold equity in petroleum licenses as provided for in the Petroleum (Local Content and Participation) Regulations and any other discretionary powers in any Petroleum law or regulation must be regulated in accordance with article 296 of the 1992 Constitution.
• That the development of the new Petroleum (Exploration and Production) Bill provides an opportunity to increase transparency in the petroleum contracting process where the risk of corruption is very high. Accordingly, we call for the adoption of an open and competitive bidding process of oil concessions, mandatory contract disclosure, as well as the disclosure of beneficial ownership information.
• That Government should develop oil and gas metering regulations as a matter of urgency in accordance with the Petroleum Commission Act 2011 (Act 821) and support capacity development efforts of relevant agencies to effectively implement the regulations and prevent metering related corruption in the oil and gas industry.
• That Government should follow the path of dialogue with communities where it wants to acquire land by negotiation or compulsion to prevent future conflicts with community members. This will ensure that communities complement government efforts at protecting oil installations including pipelines for the transportation of petroleum.
• That Government must demonstrate political will in the fight against corruption by supporting the anti-corruption agencies with increased budget, training and logistics to expose, investigate and check corruption in the oil and gas industry.
• Finally, we call on all Ghanaians to campaign for and support the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Commission on provisions that promote transparency and accountability and abhor corruption.

Singed on behalf of all participants

Name and organization