The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), has revealed that their debtors have not made any clear payment plan to clear their debt since 2015 resulting in their financial constraints.
This came to light when, the corporation appeared before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to respond to issues raised against the GNPC in the 2017 Auditor-Generals report, where they revealed that they are still struggling to recover 778.6 million Ghana Cedis owed by government and its agencies since 2015.
Leading the team at the siting, Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in charge of Commercials at the corporation, Mr Joseph Dadzie gave details of the indebtedness where he revealed that the government owed the corporation GH¢102.5 million, while the Ministry of Finance, TOR and Ghana Gas owed GH¢261.1 million, GH¢198.8 million and GH¢216.2 million, respectively.
He also said that, failure of the debtors to redeem their indebtedness had negatively affected the liquidity of the corporation and indicated that there was no immediate plan to recover the money owed the company.
He further went on to say that they have no power in the current situation they are facing.
“We do not have a choice because we are owed by the state and if the state refuses to pay the amount, there is really nothing you can do; but we have had challenges with cash flow, especially this period when we have seen crude oil prices go down.”
Also at the sitting yesterday was the Petroleum Commission who also had to answer questions on issues related to management, as raised by the Auditor-General.
The audit report cited the commission for engaging seven consultants to mentor its staff, without provisions in the job description of the consultants for periodic reporting.
It also cited the PC for transferring cash into some accounts, in violation of the directive by the Ministry of Finance for all money payable to the Energy Ministry to be paid through the ministry’s account at the Bank of Ghana.
The CEO of Petroleum Commission, Mr Egbert Faibille responding to those charges, said the number of consultants had been reduced to just one.
“Immediately this matter was brought up in the audit finding, we took it up and I am able to report that from the date of the audit issue up to now, we have caused changes to be made to the contract of the existing consultant.”
He said also corrective measures had been taken to resolve those management lapses, as recommended by the Auditor-General.
The Northern Electricity Distribution Company Limited (NEDCo) was also cited for not properly keeping key records because of a malfunctioning software called the Oracle, but its officials said the software had been put in good shape.
The Public Accounts Committee yesterday scrutinized the Auditor-General’s report on public boards, corporations and other statutory institutions for 2017.
Appearing at the sitting were three agencies under the Ministry of Energy: the Ghana National Petroleum Comission (GNPC), the Petroleum Commission (PC) and the Northern Electricity Distribution Company Limited (NEDCo).
