The Ministry of Education, yesterday, failed to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament without notice, compelling the committee to end sitting earlier than planned.
The sector minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, or his representative, was scheduled to show up before the committee in Accra, with heads of agencies under the ministry to answer queries about their finances.
The queries were in respect of infractions captured in the Report of the Auditor-General on the public accounts of Ghana – Ministries, Departments and other Agencies (MDAs) for the year ended December 31, 2021.
However, at about 11:20am when the PAC Chairman, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, announced that it was the turn of the ministry neither Dr Adutwum, his deputies nor representatives of the agencies were present.
“We are expecting the Ministry of Education. Are they here? Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education .Ok. They are not here. Ministry of Education has a lot of issues. So if they are not here it means we are handicapped and we cannot go further and, have to suspend sitting,”
According to Dr Avedzi the Ministry did not inform the committee of its inability to appear or request rescheduling, a development which he described as disrespectful to the committee.
“Minister, if you are listening to us, kindly give some respect to this committee. We will try our best to give you another date, but if you fail to come, well, the powers that we have as a committee under Article 103 of the constitution will be exercised,” he said and adjourned sitting to today(Friday).
Like any other committee of Parliament, Article 103 (6) grants the PAC, the powers, rights and privileges of a High Court to, among other things, enforce the attendance of witnesses and examine them on oath.
Earlier, the committee gave a retired accountant of the Department of Cooperative -Wa Office, Isaac Bondzie, one month ultimatum to produce evidence that he had refunded GH¢27,135.00 which were unaccounted for.
This was after he requested six weeks to produce the evidence which he said was in his private residence in Wa, but he could not immediately produce them because we was attending to some pressing needs in Axim in the Western Region.
According to the audit report, between January 2018 and March 2021, Mr Bondzie collected GH¢16,052.01 as revenue, out of which GH¢12,917.00 was deposited with the bank, leaving a difference of GH¢3,135.01.
Similarly, the department acknowledged receipt of GH¢24,000.00 in respect of a transfer by the Regional Coordinating Council on April 4, 2019, but the amount could not be found in the bank statements of the department.
This was in violation of Regulation 46 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378) which requires, a Principal Spending Officer to lodge monies in designated accounts within 24 hours, as well as Regulation 78 of PFMR, 2019 (L.I. 2378) which mandates, such an officer to ensure that each payment was duly made.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR
