During the first public meeting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament held from October 16 to 26, 2007, Ghanaians were exposed to the wanton corruption embedded in the public and civil service.
The PAC that year considered the report of the Auditor General on Public Accounts of the country for the year ended December 2004/2005 involving ministries, departments and agencies of the central government.
The PAC exercise is aim at consolidating the role of parliament in the budgetary process by holding public officials accountable in the discharge of their duties. But sadly, the PAC did not inform the public what measures was taken to retrieve the huge sums of money that those officers cunningly took from the national kitty.
Once again, the PAC has started its sittings and like the previous one, there have been startling revelations of financial impropriety against some officials who are supposed to utilize the tax payers money effectively. But this is not to be.
We were told of an audit report indicating that during the audit of the treasury accounts of the Finance Ministry, a schedule officer at the treasury failed to produce payment voucher covering GH¢351,900.
That officer the committee was told allegedly effected the payment using falsified documents aimed at misappropriating the amount from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) Contingency Fund Accounts.
Although this case has been dragging at the Accra Fast Track Court since 2006, the officer continues to receive half of his salary because he is on interdiction. We appeal to the court to fast track its proceedings for the case to be settled once and for all.
Another case we find very worrying is the operations of the Lands Commission where ground rents of most houses located at the plush residential areas in Accra have not been reviewed over the past 50 years (1959 to April, 2009).
This is very serious and the earlier officials at the commission are made to expedite action on the review registers of the lessees the better because the government is losing huge sums of monies.
The commission must also make sure that the current total unpaid ground rents due to the commission totaling GH¢3,364.553.00 are paid.
It is time public and civil servants are told that the days when they could dip their hands into government funds are over and they must be made to account for every pesewa that they embezzle.
The PAC must not been seen only to be exposing the rot in the system but they must make recommendations which would enable the government plug loopholes in the financial administration and also deal with nation wreckers.
The nation needs money for its development and with proper planning and monitoring, we can raise the funds through our own resources. Instead of going abegging.
The PAC that year considered the report of the Auditor General on Public Accounts of the country for the year ended December 2004/2005 involving ministries, departments and agencies of the central government.
The PAC exercise is aim at consolidating the role of parliament in the budgetary process by holding public officials accountable in the discharge of their duties. But sadly, the PAC did not inform the public what measures was taken to retrieve the huge sums of money that those officers cunningly took from the national kitty.
Once again, the PAC has started its sittings and like the previous one, there have been startling revelations of financial impropriety against some officials who are supposed to utilize the tax payers money effectively. But this is not to be.
We were told of an audit report indicating that during the audit of the treasury accounts of the Finance Ministry, a schedule officer at the treasury failed to produce payment voucher covering GH¢351,900.
That officer the committee was told allegedly effected the payment using falsified documents aimed at misappropriating the amount from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) Contingency Fund Accounts.
Although this case has been dragging at the Accra Fast Track Court since 2006, the officer continues to receive half of his salary because he is on interdiction. We appeal to the court to fast track its proceedings for the case to be settled once and for all.
Another case we find very worrying is the operations of the Lands Commission where ground rents of most houses located at the plush residential areas in Accra have not been reviewed over the past 50 years (1959 to April, 2009).
This is very serious and the earlier officials at the commission are made to expedite action on the review registers of the lessees the better because the government is losing huge sums of monies.
The commission must also make sure that the current total unpaid ground rents due to the commission totaling GH¢3,364.553.00 are paid.
It is time public and civil servants are told that the days when they could dip their hands into government funds are over and they must be made to account for every pesewa that they embezzle.
The PAC must not been seen only to be exposing the rot in the system but they must make recommendations which would enable the government plug loopholes in the financial administration and also deal with nation wreckers.
The nation needs money for its development and with proper planning and monitoring, we can raise the funds through our own resources. Instead of going abegging.
