The Public interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) says the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) has not received any disbursement in the first half of 2021.

The Committee said an amount of GH¢ 129.26 million, representing five per cent of the budgeted Annual Budget Fund Amount (ABFA) allocated to the DACF, was not disbursed.

PIAC made the finding in its Semi-Annual Report on the management and use of petroleum revenues for the first half of 2021.

The semi-annual report is in fulfilment of Section 56 of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), 2011 (Act 815).

The Committee, since its establishment in September 2011, has exercised its oversight responsibility of monitoring and evaluating the management of Ghana’s petroleum resources by the government and stakeholder institutions.

In compliance with provisions of the Petroleum Revenue Management Act (PRMA), 2011, the Committee prepares statutory Semi-Annual and Annual Reports, which aim at keeping Ghanaians and other interested stakeholders regularly informed about the management and utilization of the country’s petroleum revenues.

The 2021 PIAC Semi-Annual Report is being published three weeks after the statutory date of September 15, 2021, which is earlier than in the past.

The 2021 PIAC Semi-Annual Report covers the period January to June and encompasses a broad range of issues associated with petroleum revenue management such as information on production, liftings, total revenues accrued and allocated by Government, ABFA utilization and the management of the Ghana Petroleum Funds, Ghana Stabilization Fund (GSF) and the Ghana Heritage Fund (GHF).

The report said instead of withdrawing from the GSF, the Government utilized an amount of GH¢ 40.17 million from the Treasury Main Account to shore up the ABFA in the first quarter.

“The Earmarked Funds Capping Realignment Act, 2017, which discontinued allocations to GIIF for infrastructural development has been amended to restore petroleum revenue funding to GIIF,” it said.

PIAC reiterated its recommendation in previous reports that the Minister for Finance should grow the GSF to better position it to serve its purpose of shoring up ABFA expenditure when there are revenue shortfalls in the Budget.

PIAC recommended to the Ministry of Finance that, there was the need for the Supreme Court decision on funding of the DACF with petroleum revenues to find expression in the PRMA, which was being reviewed, with the necessary provisions as was the case with the ABFA and GIIF.

This will enhance direct implementation and monitoring of ABFA-funded projects at the Subnational level.