Public Interest Organisations, Transparency Initiatives, and Petroleum Sector Oversight and Accountability

Civil society organisations (CSOs) and other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), broadly classified as non-state actors, are widely recognised as playing an important role in the prevention of the resource curse, especially in emerging petroleum-producing countries. This section focuses on the political economy of petroleum sector governance arrangements and the role of CSOs and other non-state actors in ensuring that Ghana is able to overcome the resource curse malaise. It critically reviews the citizens’ oversight functions that organised civil society and other non-state actors have played in the visioning and subsequent development of the policy, legislative and institutional frameworks for the country’s oil and gas sector. It also reviews the role of these non-state actors, including community-based groups in the social performance activities of oil and gas companies in Ghana. The section also undertakes an impact analysis of the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), a citizens-led statutory body, established under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, 2011 (Act 815) to monitor and evaluate compliance by the government and other relevant institutions in the management and use of the petroleum revenues and investments. Finally, the section highlights some of the challenges that civil society groups are facing in carrying out their mandate. It also makes recommendations on how to improve petroleum sector transparency and accountability in nascent producing countries.