Kwaku Agyemang Manu
The Auditor-General’s report on the management of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) and other statutory funds has revealed gross misappropriation of state funds to the tune of GH¢48.4 million for the year ended 2010, 2011 and 2012.
The areas of misappropriation included tax and procurement irregularities, imprest, unpaid loans and allowances for meetings from the Common Fund meant for development.
Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, read sections of the report at a public hearing on some assemblies in the Western and Central Regions at Takoradi.
The report indicated that non-compliance with legislative framework and weak monitoring systems by key figures in the assemblies continued to cost the state huge losses thereby slowing down the spate of development generally across the country.
He noted that the low level of commitment by the accountants, budget officers, district finance officers and coordinators to get the right things done, if not checked, could be a bane to the quest for the country to develop.
He could not fathom why monies meant for development projects were always misappropriated adding, ‘We need to sit up, otherwise there would be nothing left for the benefit of the citizenry.’
The PAC chairman said the committee would look into the specifics of the commission and omissions and ways to motivate coordinators to do better in handling the resources entrusted into their hands.
A Ranking Member of PAC, Alhaji Ibrahim Dey Abubakari, indicated that there had been no improvement in the financial management of MMDAs, and appealed to the PAC to apply the punitive measures as proposed by the Auditor-General’s report.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi
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