About GHc 17,483,483,539.25 worth of irregularities occurred in the management of 19 state institutions for the period ended 31st December 2021, has pressed the Majority Leader Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu to call on the House to constitute a committee that would further work on recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) after presenting its reports to the House.
He was of the view that even though the Public Accounts Committee is mandated to investigate the reports of the Auditor-General and present its findings to the House, the Constitution mandates the House to constitute a committee to further work with the Attorney General’s Department to make sure that all the Committee’s recommendations are carried out and monies retrieved to the state.
“We must constitute the Committee before the House rises” he stated.
The Majority Leader who also doubles as the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, said this in his contribution to the adoption of the report of the Public Accounts Committee on the Reports of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Public Boards, Corporations, and Other Statutory Institutions) for the year 2021 on the floor of the House on Monday.
Using the Constitution to back his point, the Majority Leader noted that Article 187(6) of the Constitution states that “Parliament shall debate the report of the Auditor-General and appoint where necessary, in the public interest, a Committee to deal with any matter arising from it”.
The report of the Public Accounts Committee further revealed that, the total irregularities increased from GHc 12,856,172,626 in the year 2020 to GHc 17,483,483,539.25 in 2021, representing an increase of 36.0% from the 2020 irregularities uncovered.
The report classified the irregularities under eight (8) different headings namely, Outstanding Debtors/Loans Receivable (58.98%), Dues from Customers for power sales (COVID -M19 & Others) (34.56%), Cash (2.89%), Payroll (0.05%), Procurement (1.75%), Tax (0.13) and Contract irregularities (1.62%).
The 19 state institutions and agencies that were cited for causing these irregularities were under the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ministry of Justice and Attorney-General, Ministry of Communication and Digitization, Ministry of Tourism, Creative Arts and Culture, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations.
The rest were the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Information, Ministry of Works and Housing, and Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.
Commenting on the status of the 2021 irregularities, the Committee’s report stated that some institutions had implemented the recommendations of the Auditor-General with respect to the infractions identified in their operations, however, a significant proportion of the irregularities remain unresolved.
It added that, out of the total value of GHc 17,482,944,569.85 of the irregularities recorded in the report, GHc 3,409,072,840.10 representing 19.5% had been resolved leaving an amount of GHc 14, 073,871,729.75 representing 80.5% unresolved.
The report of the Committee was moved and presented by the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. James Klutse-Avedzi, and seconded by Hon. Isaac Yaw Opoku, a member of the Committee.
Source:Mybrytfmonline.com
