Three Members of Parliament (MPs) will drag the Ghana National Petroleum Authority (GNPC) to Court for bypassing Parliament to secure a 700 million dollar loan facility. The Deputy Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Atta Akyea, Member of Parliament for Manhyia, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, and the Ranking Member of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Dr. Anthony Akoto-Osei are the MPs challenging the GNPC. They are expected to file processes at the Accra High Court on Monday. The GNPC has defended its decision to secure a $700 million loan facility.
In an interview with Citi News, the Chief Executive Officer of the GNPC, Alex Mould said the allegations suggesting that it is using the country’s oil as collateral are misplaced.
But speaking on Joy News File, the Lawyer for the three MPs, Nana Asante Bediatuo said the decision to sue the GNPC is justifiable since Parliament had not approved the GNPC’s 700 million dollar facility.
“The Petroleum Revenue Management Act requires that all of the programmes of GNPC are approved by Parliament in advance. Parliament has already approved the 2014 programme for GNPC and has made allocations and disbursements on that basis. This borrowing and the projects that ostensibly are going to be used for have not been approved by Parliament”
The Three MPs are not the first to threaten a court action against the GNPC. The Executive Director of Global Dynamic Consult, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko earlier warned that he would sue the GNPC if it goes ahead to secure the 1.2 billion dollar loan.
