Ghanaians angry with GNPC planned sponsorship, donations worth over GH¢3mn
The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has come
under criticism over the budget of about GH¢ 2 million for donation and
sponsorship of some public functions.
An internal memo showed that various
amounts were given to the First Lady’s Foundation, Rebecca Foundation; The
Ghana Journalists Association, and the celebration of the Okyenhene’s 20th
Anniversary.
The memo, dated 29th October 2019 from the Chief Executive
to the Board Secretary indicated that the donations and sponsorship had been
approved by the GNPC board upon a recommendation by the Brand, Communication
and CSR Committee of GNPC.
See the full list of planned donations and sponsorship are
below:
1. 2019 Damba Festival Preparation – Dagbon State – GH¢
400,000.00
2. 20th Anniversary of Okyenhene – GH¢ 500,000.00 over three
years totaling (GH 1,500,000.00) for the environment and greening
i. GH¢ 300,000.00 for organization of 20th Anniversary
celebrations.
3. Ghana Journalists Association – GH¢ 50,000.00
4. Ghana Boxing Association – US$ 30,000.00
5. Rebecca Foundation – GH¢ 120,000.00
6. EOCO – GH¢ 550,000.00
The concerns by a section of the public over the development
were expressed by the Africa Centre for Energy Policy in February this year
when it emerged that the corporation in its work programme for the 2019
financial year planned to spend $43.05 million on CSR but only $20.3 million on
its operations in the Voltaian Basin and its subsidiaries in the sector.
“While GNPC, like any corporate entity, has a responsibility
towards society, it is unusual for sound corporate organisations to spend more
than 10% of its cash flow (not profit) on corporate social responsibility,”
ACEP said in its report.
The Executive Director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies,
Professor Newman Kwadwo Kusi also recently cautioned GNPC against making such
huge spending on CSR rather than the company’s core operations.
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