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Item Developmental Constitutionalism and the Fourth Branch: Ghana’s Independent Constitutional Bodies and the Redress of Poverty and Inequality(Federal Law Review, 2023) Atuguba, R.A.; Young, K.G.Ghana’s Constitution has long emphasised the importance of equality, democracy, human rights and development. These principles are entrenched in a separation of powers framework that includes independent constitutional bodies that operate semi-autonomously from the tripartite executive, legislative and judicial branches. As part of a symposium on so-called ‘fourth branch’ institutions that provide redress for poverty and inequality, this article explores two institutions: the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the National Development Planning Commission. The first is a 30-year-old national human rights institution, which monitors and investigates alleged violations of human rights, corruption and the misappropriation of public moneys, and provides redress, partly through its increasing focus on economic and social rights and the claims of the most vulnerable, including women, children and persons with disabilities. The second, currently executive body, is the subject of current calls for constitutional reform in Ghana. These reforms would entrench national development planning to enhance features of autonomy, technical capacity and partisan independence. As such, these proposals offer a dis tinctive and yet also paradigm-defying model of fourth branch arrangements in developmental constitutionalism, raising questions about the usurpation of policymaking and the deficits of democracy that are commonly raised against courts, international financial institutions or other international economic arrangements.Item Conclusion: The Future of Ghana’s Petroleum Industry(Petroleum Resource Management in Africa, 2023) Stephens, T.K.; Acheampong, T.In recapping the central ethos of this book—which is about examining the lessons from ten years of oil and gas production in Ghana—it is pertinent to go back to the near-epiphanic statement made by Ghana’s Former President, John Agyekum Kufuor, at the formal announcement of the first commercial oil discovery in the country on 19 June 2007. President Kufuor famously remarked.Item Examining Ghana’s Petroleum Act, 2016 (Act 919) and Other Legislative Developments(Petroleum Resource Management in Africa, 2023) Stephens, T.K.; Dzikunu, S.The Petroleum Act, 2016, was largely enacted to deal with the inadequacies of the Petroleum Act, 1984. After the large-scale commercial discovery of 2007, the inadequacies of the Petroleum Act, 1984, became very evident as Ghana engaged the international oil companies (IOCs) and other actors, in operations. These inadequacies and gaps in the law had to be dealt with by inserting contractual provisions in future agreements entered into with other IOCs. These insertions were concretized into statute when the Petroleum Act, 2016, was enacted. The Petroleum Act, 2016, makes changes to certain positions under the Petroleum Act, 1984, introduces new provisions largely based on Ghana’s experiences in the industry as well as identified gaps in legislation, and allocates roles and responsibilities between the Minister for Energy, the national oil company, Ghana National Petroleum Corporation and the regulatory body formed after the large-scale commercial discovery, the Petroleum Commission. A number of subsidiary legislations have been enacted under the Petroleum Act, 2016, to also deal with different facets of operations in the industry such as metering (measuring of petroleum), data management, health, safety and environment, as well as general regulationsItem Competitiveness of Ghana’s Upstream Petroleum Fiscal Regime: Fit for Purpose?(Petroleum Resource Management in Africa, 2023) Acheampong, T.; Ali-Nakyea, A.This chapter assesses the attractiveness of Ghana’s upstream petroleum fiscal regime against key features of optimal fiscal policy, namely: efficiency of targeting economic rents, risk sharing, neutrality and progressiveness. We also identify potential fiscal reform options that Ghana can consider in optimising its fiscal regime. Various full lifecycle cash flow models are estimated using three oil field sizes—large (750 mmboe), medium (250 mmboe), small (50 mmboe)—with different cost profiles and four different pre- and post-Jubilee contract terms. Our results show that Ghana’s fiscal regime is investor-friendly with an average effective tax rate (AETR) or government take of 51.38% from royalties, IOC income taxes, and additional oil entitlements (AOE). The inclusion of the State’s Carried and Participating Interest (state take) pushes the AETR into the 65%–75% range, comparable with 65%–85% IMF benchmark values. In the context of Ghana’s low resource base, this balances the trade-offs between investment promotion and securing revenues to the State, especially when compared with other countries in the region and beyond. Also, we find that Ghana’s hybrid fiscal regime is regressive at the lower end of the oil price scale if oil prices are below $60/bbl while being slightly progressive with increasing oil prices above $60/bbl. In terms of the windfall tax structure, simulations using four tax scenarios indicate that the current AOE regime underperforms on the size and timing of revenues generated to the State. The windfall tax regime can be vastly simplified and at the same time accrue more revenues to the State by reducing the current five tiers to one: using a higher top headline rate while also lowering the trigger threshold. Furthermore, Ghana can also consider introducing targeted fiscal packages aimed at maximising economic recovery of over 500 mmboe of stranded reserves. Finally, we note significant institutional challenges regarding the capacity of some State agencies to efficiently and effectively monitor petroleum costs. In the absence of a change to the fiscal regime, the ability of Ghana’s regulatory and commercial institutions to monitor and audit costs will determine the extent to which the nation will generate significant revenues beyond just royalties and State participation.Item The Child Labour Quagmire in Ghana: Root Causes and Ephemeral Solutions(Cambridge University Press, 2021) Dowuona-Hammond, C.; Atuguba, R.A.; Tuokuu, F.X.D.Item Ghana's renewable energy agenda: Legislative drafting in search of policy paralysis(Energy Research & Social Science, 2020-02-04) Atuguba, R.A.; Tuokuu, F.X.D.Renewable energy has been touted as the panacea to Ghana's energy crisis, and one which will lay a solid foundation for industrialisation. Consequently, recent trends in energy policy place just as much weight on clean and renewable energy as they do on the age-old quest for energy independence. Using a desktop review approach, complemented with the analysis of government policy documents, we offer a critical perspective on Ghana's renewable energy agenda. We argue that institutional weakness, ambiguous regulatory frameworks, implementation challenges, lack of proper planning and coordination, and dependencies on donor support are responsible for the poor development of renewable energy in Ghana. We also contend that, if the renewable energy agenda and, indeed, the nation is to survive and thrive, the relevant legislative framework within the renewable energy sector must be reviewed. The paper concludes by identifying practical steps that need to be taken to place the renewable energy drive on a proper policy and legislative pedestal in the country.Item Does corruption cause tax evasion? Evidence from an emerging economy(Journal of Money Laundering Control, 2019-04-04) Ali-Nakyea, A.; Amoh, J.K.Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the corruption-tax evasion nexus and to establish the strength of relationships among corrupting activities. Design/methodology/approach – The research applied structural equation modelling on selected data from the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey on corruption activities and data on tax evasion triggering factors from the World Development Indicators and the Bank of Ghana to test two hypotheses. Findings – The test of the first hypothesis suggests that corrupting activities significantly cause taxevading activities in Ghana; hence, there is at least one corrupting activity triggering tax evasion. Testing the second hypothesis revealed that corruption in Ghana exhibits all of the five dimensions of corruption that were examined. Hence, there is correlation among the corrupting activities. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited by the availability of data; hence, only data for selected variables for the period were examined. Practical implications – The results are indicative that most emerging economies tend to have more than one type of dominating corruption dimension, which are tax-evading triggers. Originality/value – The study extends the literature by examining the various dimensions of corruption, analysing the strength of their relationships and how they impact tax evasion in an emerging economy. By identifying and employing specific corrupting activities, there is a better understanding and appreciation of the corruption-tax evasion nexus in the revenue generation process. This may aid emerging economies in the drafting of tax evasion and corruption reduction policies/programmes to ensure the achievement of sustainable development goals.Item Inclusion of the Informal Sector Pension: The New Pensions Act(Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, 2019-06-07) Tsede, O.A.The study was conducted to examine the extent to which informal sector workers understand new pension scheme of Ghana, together with its benefits, challenges and adequacy in guaranteeing their retirement income security. Primary data through interviews and focus group discussions, and secondary data through review of relevant laws were obtained. A total of 86 participants constituted the sample, made up of the regulator, regulated and cross-section of informal sector workers. There is generally low patronage by the informal sector workers which can be attributed to lack of trust in the trustees. Awareness creation and public education are still being embarked upon to win public trust and confidence. The adequacy of the pensions scheme is attained through investments in permissible ventures such as treasury bills, real estate, bonds and stocks.Item Does corruption cause tax evasion? Evidence from an emerging economy(Journal of Money Laundering Control, 2019-01) Ali-Nakyea, A.; Amoah, J.The purpose of this exploratory research is to examine the corruption-tax evasion nexus and to establish the strength of relationships among corrupting activities. The research applied structural equation modelling (SEM) on selected data from the World Economic Forum Executive (WEF) Opinion Survey on corruption activities and data on tax evasion triggering factors from the World Development Indicators (WDI) and the Bank of Ghana (BOG) to test two hypotheses. The test of the first hypothesis suggests that corrupting activities significantly cause tax-evading activities in Ghana, hence there is at least one corrupting activity triggering tax evasion. Testing the second hypothesis revealed that corruption in Ghana exhibits all of the five dimensions of corruption examined. Hence, there is correlation among the corrupting activities. The research is limited by the availability of data, hence only data on selected variables for the period were examined. The results are indicative that most emerging economies tend to have more than one type of dominating corruption dimension, which are tax-evading triggers. The study extends literature by examining the various dimensions of corruption, analysing the strength of their relationships and how they impact tax evasion in an emerging economy. By identifying and employing specific corrupting activities, there is a better understanding and appreciation of the corruption-tax evasion nexus in the revenue generation process. The study recommends that a comprehensive and effective tax evasion reduction strategy/policy should deal with tax-evasion triggered corruption from the triad perspectives of taxpayer, tax officials and government officials. This may aid emerging economies in the drafting of tax evasion and corruption reduction policies/programmes to ensure the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Item Professionalizing legal drafting in Commonwealth Africa: Training for administrators in the civil service(Commonwealth Law Bulletin, 2008-05) Aryee, J.N.This article explores the process of professionalizing legal drafting in Commonwealth Africa. It is argued that, in view of the centralized drafting system, the linguistic skill of the legal drafter must be complemented by the skill of the administrative or departmental officials to provide policy and substantive inputs in the drafting of Bills. The object of this article is to draw attention to the need for the systematic training of administrators so as to prepare them effectively for their role of contributing the legislative policy and the substantive input in the legal drafting process, especially as regards the formulation of accurate drafting instructions.