The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has cautioned public officers against designating Members of Parliament (MPs) as spending officers for projects within their respective jurisdictions.
Chairman of PAC, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, said it was illegal for directorate of public institutions to transfer project funds into the personal accounts of MPs.
He explained that, although the MPs were empowered by law to determine the type of project for the funds, they were outlawed from being the spending officers.
Speaking during yesterday’s proceedings of PAC in Accra, he urged public officers to stick to their role of carrying out the needed administrative processes to effect payment when an MP identifies a project to undertake.
“Let me caution you that, do not pay any money into the personal account of any MP. Expenditure for project must be made directly from the directorate account.
Your job is to go through the administrative processes to effect payment and ensure the project for which the funds was expensed is carried out. Never again should your outfit or any public office transfer money to an MP,” Dr Avedzi stated.
The caution followed the appearance of the head of Twifo Atti-Morkwa District Education Office in the Central Region, Augustina Attakora at PAC yesterday.
The 2022 Auditor-General’s Report found that, in contravention of Section 7 of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), an amount of GH¢195,000 paid into the District Education Directorate’s account from the Special Initiative Fund for renovation of selected Basic Schools and support for some Senior High Schools (SHS) in the constituency was repaid into the MP’s personal bank account.
The report recommended that the District Director of Education recover the funds with interest at the prevailing Bank of Ghana rate from the MP and pay same to the Auditor-General’s Recoveries account with Bank of Ghana (BOG).
“It is not allowed for office to pay monies for project into the personal bank account of the MP. If any MP ask you, a public officer, to transfer money for a project into his account, contact me and I will speak to the MP about it. Just don’t do it,” Dr Avedzi reiterated.
He said such illegal actions was the reason for uncompetitive procurement, and in some cases, delays in the implementation of projects.
“Allowing your MP to dictate some things such as these is the reason why several offices have audit infractions. The committee is once again reminding all covered entities to comply strictly with the procurement laws. Don’t allow an MP to become an officer of purchases,” he added.
On other infractions, Mrs Attakota, said the office had submitted the names of beneficiaries of purchased items worth GH¢80,000.00 by the MP of the area for distribution in the constituency for verification.
Earlier, the report recommended that in the absence of relevant documents to support the distribution, the MP was required to pay the GH¢80,000 into the Auditor-General’s Recoveries Account with Bank of Ghana.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS