Mr Allan Lassey, the Head of Accountability and Research at the German Development Corporation (GIZ) has urged
Journalists to continuously update their Knowledge base in the extractive industry to better inform and educate the citizenry.
He said updating one’s knowledge on the day-to-day development in the sector was relevant for journalists since the industry kept evolving always and was important for journalists to follow the trend.
Mr Lassey was speaking at a workshop in Aburi to build capacity of Journalists on the 2015 Ghana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GHEITI) report to better understand its content for effective dissemination.
The report was launched in Accra on Wednesday, May 16, by Mr Kwaku Kwarteng, the Deputy Minister for Finance who expressed government’s commitment to implement the recommendations of the report.
The workshop was organised by GIZ in collaboration with the GHEITI Committee and the Institute of Economic and Financial Journalists (IFEJ).
It brought together stakeholders such as the Ministry of Finance, the Minerals Commission, the Ghana Revenue Authority, Civil Society Organisations and Boas and Associate, the consultancy firm engaged to produce the report.
Mr Lassey indicated that he was not happy about the late publication of the report, saying, “I am not proud that we are doing this in 2018.
He appealed to the GHEITI Committee to explore innovative ways of funding to enable deliver the report on timely basis as it would help in the fight for transparency and accountability.
Dr Steve Manteaw, the Co-Chair of the GHEITI Committee attributed the delay of the 2015 report to the delay in releasing funding from partners and also partly to the political season that the country experienced in the 2016 election.
Mr Rayborn Bulley, the President of IFEJ urged Journalists to reach out to experts in their reportage to accurately present the facts behind the report.
The GEITI is the local version of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) initiated to ensure that the citizenry has access to information on the revenue generated from the extractive sectors.
The aim of the report is to give the citizens basis to demand for transparency and accountability on the use of their extractive sector revenue.
The extractive sectors involve the mining and oil and gas sectors, which contribute huge sums of money into the government’s kitty meant to fast track economic development.
Source: GNA
