General News of Monday, 7 May 2018
Source: citinewsroom.com
2018-05-07
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committe of Parliament, James Klutse Avedzi
The Public Accounts Committee [PAC] of Parliament, has discounted assertions that persons indicted in the Auditor General’s report are left unpunished.
Many have argued that no serious action is taken to either retrieve monies or punish culprits who misappropriate public funds.
But speaking to ahead of a zonal sitting in the Volta Regional capital, Ho, the Chairman for the Committee, James Klutse Avedzi, explained that most of the infractions are addressed by the perpetrators before the public hearings are held.
According to him, the Committee’s work has ensured that huge amounts that would have otherwise gone waste, are returned to the public purse.
The Committee this week is considering the 2015 Auditor General’s report for the Eastern and Volta Regions in Ho.
The Committee over the past few weeks has been holding public hearings in various parts of the country.
Last week, it held sittings in the Central Region on 2015 Auditor General’s report.
Among the issues that came up at that sitting included Assin North Senior High School being cited for spending GHc163,000 without receipts and invoices to verify the payments.
The Gomoa East District Assembly was also questioned over their GHc 80,000 Common Fund expenditure on the funeral of a former District Chief Executive [DCE] in 2015.
According to the 2015 Auditor General’s report, the budget for the funeral of the late DCE, Kingsley Ahunu-Armah, shot up from an initial GHc9, 000 to more than GHC80,000.