By: Naa Dzagbley Ago
The Public Interest and Accountability Committee, PIAC has charged the Ghana Revenue Authority, GRA to intensify its efforts at collecting surface rental arrears in addition to any new assessment before the end of the year.
Presenting highlights of its 2022 Semi-Annual Report, PIAC identified that the amount outstanding keeps increasing.
At the end of half year 2022, the balance in arrears was more than two million dollars, constituting an increase of 7.58 per cent on the figure recorded at the end of 2021.
According to the Committee, to enable GRA to assess and collect revenues from International Oil Companies before they exit Ghana, the Minister of Energy should inform the revenue authority and other relevant institutions before the termination of pending agreements.
Another area of concern for the Committee was that, no transfer of Annual Budget Funding Amount, ABFA was made into the District Assembly Common Fund during half year of 2022, although an amount of 157. 77 million Cedis had been budgeted for. This situation PIAC noted is worrying
as projects within the districts have stalled and are sometimes left to rot as a result of these.
Prof. Adom-Frimpong intimated, that PIAC wants Government to adhere to the Legislative Instrument that limits the capping of the Ghana Stabilization Fund to four hundred and sixty million dollars, as against the current capping of only one hundred million dollars.
