The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) has called for reforms to the composition and appointment processes of Board Members of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC). This according to the committee will allow persons with the technical competence or experience in the extractives industry to provide strategic direction to the NOC. PIAC observed that the appointment to the GNPC Board is governed by PNDCL 64, which allowed all board members to be appointed by the President of Ghana, on the advice of the Minister for Energy. 'It is believed that persons often affiliated with the ruling administration are appointed to the Board,' PIAC highlighted in its second Issue Paper titled, 'The Role of GNPC in the Upstream Petroleum Industry: Challenges and Prospects'. It also noted that the Board lacked institutional representation, unlike other Organisations such as the Petroleum Commission Board, which has representation from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Institution of Geoscien tists, and three other persons, one of whom must be a woman. It called for the urgent review of the PNDCL 64, which does not provide enough details on the qualifying criteria for appointment to the board of GNPC and for that matter served as an opening for ruling administration to appoint individuals 'with strong allegiances to the party.' PIAC also highlighted the need for the corporation to, among other things, take urgent action to retrieve funds owed to it by the state and other government agencies and review its Corporate Social Responsibility activities to commit more funds to cash calls and mandates, especially when its funding from the PHF is expected to cease. 'The Committee commends GNPC for its role in managing Ghana's interest in all upstream petroleum activities for over 30 years since its establishment, however, the NOC must start refocusing on its core mandate, and increase its efforts at becoming a viable stand-alone operator,' the paper indicated. PIAC is an independent statutory body man dated to promote transparency and accountability in the management of petroleum revenues in Ghana. Source: Ghana News Agency