PIAC Pushes for Action as Unimplemented Oil Revenue Advice Mounts
Years after the Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) began issuing recommendations on how Ghana should better manage petroleum revenues, the country’s independent oil revenue watchdog says too many of those proposals continue to go unimplemented, raising fresh concerns about accountability and value for money in the sector.
The Committee is now calling for stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure that recommendations contained in its statutory reports translate into action rather than becoming recurring observations with little practical impact.
According to discussions during PIAC’s #TimeWithPIAC Facebook Live Session, PIAC officials argued that repeated failures to act on identified governance gaps risk undermining the country’s petroleum revenue management framework at a time when prudent use of oil revenues remains critical to Ghana’s economic development.
Ghanaians want to know why key recommendations designed to protect our oil resources are repeatedly left on the table.
PIAC’s Senior Communications Manager, Jessica Acheampong
Her remarks reflect a concern that has featured consistently in several of PIAC’s annual and semi-annual reports, where the Committee has identified implementation gaps across institutions responsible for managing petroleum revenues.
From oversight to implementation
Since its establishment under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act, PIAC has served as an independent oversight body tasked with monitoring how Ghana collects, allocates and spends petroleum revenues.
Over the years, its reports have highlighted issues ranging from delayed projects and maintenance deficiencies to concerns about the fragmentation of petroleum-funded investments across numerous small projects.
While successive governments have acknowledged many of these observations, PIAC believes implementation has not kept pace with the recommendations being made. According to Mark Ofori Adu Agyemang, Head of PIAC’s Technical Department, the value of independent oversight depends not only on identifying problems but also on ensuring that institutions respond to them.
Without coordinated action by implementing institutions, monitoring alone risks becoming a mere academic exercise rather than a tool for improving governance, he observed during the discussion. Why implementation matters
The Committee argues that the consequences of weak implementation are already visible.
Samuel Boakye, Chairman of PIAC’s Technical Subcommittee, linked recurring challenges such as delayed projects, abandoned infrastructure and expenditure inefficiencies to failures by implementing agencies to adequately act on recommendations contained in PIAC’s reports. Those concerns echo findings that have appeared repeatedly in the Committee’s published assessments of petroleum revenue utilisation, where questions have been raised about whether oil revenues are consistently delivering long-term development outcomes.
For a country with finite petroleum resources, governance experts have long argued that how revenues are invested is just as important as how much revenue is generated.
Projects left incomplete, inadequate maintenance planning and the spreading of limited petroleum resources across numerous projects can reduce the long-term developmental impact of oil revenues.
Calls for stronger accountability
Rather than relying solely on moral persuasion, PIAC believes additional measures may now be necessary to improve compliance.
Officials participating in the discussion called for legal and institutional reforms that would strengthen the implementation of recommendations, while also encouraging greater scrutiny from Parliament, the media and civil society organisations.
The Committee also sees public engagement as an important part of that accountability process.
By taking discussions directly to citizens through digital platforms, PIAC hopes to encourage broader public interest in petroleum revenue governance and increase pressure on public institutions to respond more consistently to oversight findings.
The approach reflects a growing recognition that transparency alone may not be sufficient unless it is accompanied by sustained public demand for implementation.
A broader governance question
The discussion comes as Ghana continues to face increasing pressure to maximise the developmental impact of petroleum revenues amid broader fiscal constraints.
Recent debates around petroleum revenue utilisation have focused not only on how much money enters the Petroleum Holding Fund but also on whether allocations produce measurable economic value through well-executed projects and stronger institutional performance.
For many governance analysts, the challenge is gradually shifting from transparency towards implementation.
Ghana’s petroleum governance framework is often regarded as one of the more comprehensive in Africa, with institutions such as PIAC, the Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Ghana and Parliament all playing oversight roles.
The more difficult task, however, lies in ensuring that recommendations emerging from those oversight processes consistently influence public policy and project execution.
As Ghana prepares for future investments in its petroleum sector while balancing competing development priorities, PIAC maintains that stronger implementation of existing recommendations could improve value for money, strengthen public confidence and help ensure that petroleum revenues deliver lasting national benefits.
Vivo Energy has completed its acquisition of 100 percent of the shares in Total Energies marketing Jordan, marking its official entry into the Jordanian market and the introduction of the Engen retail fuel brand to the Kingdom.
The transaction includes TotalEnergies Marketing Jordan’s network of about 180 service stations, as well as its commercial fuels and lubricants business.
The acquisition expands Vivo Energy’s footprint beyond Africa into Jordan. The company now operates about 4,200 service stations across 29 markets in North, West, East and Southern Africa, the Indian Ocean Islands, and Jordan.
As part of the transition, the Engen brand will replace the TotalEnergies brand across service stations in Jordan over the coming months.
Engen is Vivo Energy’s owned retail brand and is currently present in 13 of the company’s markets. It is the leading fuel brand in South Africa, where more than 1,000 Engen service stations sell one in every four litres of fuel.
The acquisition follows the announcement of the transaction in November 2025. According to Vivo Energy, all required regulatory approvals and conditions precedent have now been satisfied, allowing the deal to be completed. Commenting on the acquisition, Stan Mittelman, CEO of the Vivo Energy said: “This is an important milestone for Vivo Energy as we expand beyond Africa into Jordan, a market with strong fundamentals and a team we have great respect for. Vivo Energy, and our retail brand Engen, are built on African values of customer service and community, which we believe have a real story to tell in Jordan. We look forward to supporting continued growth in the market.”
The company has appointed Adel Saadallah as Managing Director of Vivo Energy Jordan to lead operations in the country.
Speaking on his appointment, Saadallah said: “I am genuinely proud to be appointed to lead Vivo Energy’s business in Jordan, as we expand into this new market. I have been part of Vivo Energy since the company was founded and have seen first-hand how our model creates businesses that last.”
He emphasized that while ownership has changed, the transition will not affect employees, dealer agreements or customer relationships.
“Today’s announcement is a change of ownership, but employees, dealer contracts and customer relationships carry over unchanged. My priority will be to work alongside the existing team, build on what is working well and make the transition as smooth as possible for everyone. We recognise that 2026 is a year of pride for Jordan: The Kingdom’s 80th Independence Day anniversary and the national team’s first ever World Cup appearance. We will work to reflect this pride in our programmes, putting Jordan and Jordanians first.”
Vivo Energy said its business model is built around empowering local management teams to serve customers and stakeholders effectively, an approach it intends to replicate in Jordan. The company supplies fuels, lubricants, liquefied petroleum gas and chemicals to customers across sectors including aviation, marine, transport, construction, agriculture, manufacturing and power. Its retail network also offers convenience stores, restaurants, card services and other non-fuel services.
Vivo Energy employs about 6,000 people and has access to more than 2.1 billion litres of fuel storage capacity across its markets.