News:
January 21, 2011
The New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Esikado/Ketan, Mr Joe Ghartey, has called for the withdrawal of the Petroleum Revenue Management Bill (PRM) because it is loaded with amendments.
He explained that if a bill had one-third of it being amended then it had to be withdrawn, adding that members needed to take a look at how they were treating the legal framework with regard to petroleum.
Mr Ghartey, who is a former Attorney General in the erstwhile NPP government, said the PRM bill should be referred to the Attorney General’s office with a reason that though the bill was drafted and placed before Parliament, more amendments had been found in it.
According to him, subject to Article 269 (1) of the Constitution, Petroleum Commission bill should have been first followed by Petroleum Exploration Bill and then Petroleum Revenue Management Bill in order of sequence.
He said if a bill was found in a situation of numerous amendments, the right thing was to send it back to the AG for a re-look.
Mr Ghartey appealed to the Majority leader to consider the various options and take decisions on it so that the PRM bill would be properly done.
Mr Cletus Apul Avoka, Majority Leader and NDC member of Parliament for Zebilla, said Parliament had done a lot of work on the PRM bill and that it was out of place to go by Mr Ghartey’s request.
He said the issue was about managing revenue and not natural resources because the two were different and urged that the PRM bill, currently at the consideration stage, be continued with by Parliament.
However, Mr Avoka told the house that the Chairmen of the Finance, and Energy Committees were absent and so the house could not work on the bill until the two members were in.
Source: GNA