Invest oil revenues in public sector, NGOs tell government

A coalition of NGOs in the Republic of Congo (ROC), known as "Publish What You Pay", has called for more transparency in the country's petroleum sector, demanding that the government invest more oil revenues in healthcare, education and basic infrastructure. With a production of 250,000 barrels a day, ROC is the fourth largest oil producer in sub-Sahara Africa after Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea. Oil makes up 67 percent of ROC's gross domestic product and accounts for more than 78 percent of the country's revenue. The natural riches of the country stand in stark contrast to the poverty of the population. "Seventy percent of the Congolese people live below the poverty line," the coalition said. Child mortality stands at almost 10 percent and "32 percent of the population know hunger". "The amount of debt and the quantity of oil produced and paid for is not enough known by the Congolese people," the coalition said in a statement issued on 25 February. It blamed the government of mismanaging the country's oil revenues. The coalition's statement came at the end of a roundtable conference, which it organised in conjunction with its international partners and attended by representatives of international aid organisations, members of government and participants from the World Bank. The coalition asked the government to formulate an action programme for the implementation of the "Initiative for Transparency in the Extracting Industries", which the government joined in October 2004, but without initiating any major changes, so far. In 2004, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demanded several times that the government open its books to the public and that surpluses from oil money be invested in the social sector. The government could pay off internal debt, help laid off workers, pay outstanding salaries and pensions, and approve funding for students. Also in 2004, because high oil prices, the government amassed about 360 billion francs CFA (US $754.65 million) in oil earnings. However, this money has never been spent in the social sector, the coalition said. Instead, the government said, it used the unexpected income to fill the hole of 284 billion francs ($595.3 million) in the 2004 budget and to pay foreign debt. Until recently, the IMF rated ROC as one of the most indebted countries per capita in the world, with an estimated $5.5 billion in foreign debt. Roger Bouka Owoko, from the International Federation for Human Rights, told IRIN that in 2004, the presidency of the republic and the ministries of foreign affairs and administration had three billion francs [$6.2 million] more to invest than their counterpart from the Ministry of Health, who saw his budget cut by one billion francs. He added that three in five Congolese had access to safe drinking water and electricity reached only 25 percent of the country's 2.9 million people. Education spending in 2003-2004 was also reduced. Sarah Wykes, from the international NGO, Global Witness, who did the research for the coalition, claimed important elements in the oil income were kept secret. "The audits of 2001-2002 of the Societe Nationale des Petroles de Congo are not published in full," Wykes said. The accusations were rejected by the government and oil companies, with which it has contracts. "The royalties which are handed from the oil companies to the state serve the needs of the population," Yves Robert Lefebure, from Total, the major foreign oil producing company in ROC, said. "We do social work, construct schools and hospitals. But we cannot substitute the state." The government deliberately does not publish certain figures. "We cannot fill the population with numbers and other facts that they don't understand," Serge Ndeko, consultant in the ministry for hydrocarbons, said. "The oil money belongs to the Congolese. The problem is to know what is being done with it, without stuffing the people unnecessarily with figures." The legal counsel at the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Budget, Michel Okoko, presented a temporary strategic document for poverty reduction, saying the government had already initiated the third audit of the Societe Nationale des Petroles de Congo. He said it was necessary to read the poverty reduction strategy paper first, before criticising the government.