NPP National Youth Organiser, Nana B
While members and communicators of the opposition National Democratic Congress continue to claim credit for the idea of establishing the Heritage and Stabilisation funds, the youth wing of the governing New Patriotic Party has disclosed that the processes towards their establishment had begun long before the flagbearer of the NDC, John Dramani Mahama, became president.
Available facts indicate that the Kufuor administration, in February 2008, organised the first national conference on oil and gas management, which later birthed the funds under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2011, ACT 893.
The NPP youth wing therefore insists that the assertion by the NDC that the two funds are “the brainchildren of Mr Mahama is simply false and smacks of juvenile propaganda”.
“The facts rather show conclusively that the NDC government was never interested in social accountability and thus was lackadaisical in enacting the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, impliedly the Stabilization Fund and Heritage Fund,” a statement signed by Henry Nana Boakye, National Youth Organiser of the NPP, said.
The facts
Making bare the facts in its ‘Youth Must Know’ series, the NPP disclosed that the idea of the fund was suggested by representatives from civil society and relevant stakeholders who attended the February 2008 national conference on oil and gas management, meant to assist in drafting a working Petroleum Revenue Management Policy (PRMP).
“If the NPP government had not lost the 2008 elections, Ghana would have still enacted the PRMA with both the Stabilization Fund and Heritage Fund, would have done that even much earlier. It must be reiterated that it is not correct for the NDC to suggest that the establishment of the Stabilization Fund and Heritage Fund was the brainchild of Mr Mahama. The fact that the bill was passed under an NDC regime doesn’t make Mahama the brain behind it,” said the NPP.
“For emphasis, it was the sole ingenuity of a group called Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas that got the Stabilization Fund and Heritage Fund enshrined in the existing Petroleum Revenue Management Act,” the statement added.
Debate
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, has implemented a good number of programmes and initiatives that have significantly cushioned Ghanaians and ameliorated the economic challenges confronting them. These measures by the government have been greeted with loud cheers and commendation from many Ghanaians and other stakeholders outside the shores of Ghana.
The NDC, realising these high performance ratings, and their potential electoral benefits, has positioned itself to share the accruing credit with the government.
The party has, thus, through John Abdulai Jinapor, MP for Yapei Kusawgu and former Deputy Minister of Power, argued that Mr Mahama must be commended for making monies available through the Stabilization Fund for President Akufo-Addo to use. He contends that it was through the ingenuity of Mr Mahama and the NDC that both the Stabilization Fund and Heritage Fund were created.
