The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), James Klutse Avedzi, says they are bent on recommending to the Attorney General for the prosecution of individuals and institutions indicted by the Auditor General’s report.
According to him, this has become necessary because their previous advice to culprits to go back and rectify the wrongs fell on deaf ears, especially in procurement breaches.
He was speaking at the committee’s sitting on the Auditor General’s report for 2018 in Sunyani in the Bono Region.
Some heads and accountants of pre-tertiary and tertiary educational institutions in the Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, and Ashanti regions, are appearing and answering queries on irregularities in the report.
On day one of the committee’s sitting on Monday, Wenchi SHS, Menji Agric SHS, Koase SHS, Sunyani SHS, Berekum Presec, Chiraa SHS, Nkoranman SHS, Nsawkaw SHS, Mansen SHS, Nchiraa SHS, Kumasi, and Sunyani technical universities were in attendance after being indicted on cash management, procurement, payroll, contract, and tax-related breaches.
While some were discharged after the auditors confirmed their recommendations have been adhered to, others needed to provide better evidence.
The committee chairman directed the Attorney General to prosecute Wenchi SHS for breaching the Public Procurement Act in a non-competitive procurement of goods and services.
The school, according to the report, issued payment vouchers amounting to 25, 546.25 which breached section 92 of the procurement Act.
The former headmaster of Menji Agric SHS, Paul Nsiede, was also directed by the committee chairman to provide documents covering an expenditure of over 15,000 to the current headmaster within a week, else he will be made to refund the money to the government chest.
This and many other situations, according to the PAC chairman, James Klutse Avedzi, reoccur despite previous advice to correct the wrongs.
“We will begin to apply the law and recommend the sanctions prescribed by the law. The committee will not prosecute them but we will recommend to the Attorney General to prosecute them”, he said, adding those found liable can go to jail for five years or a 30,000 charge, or both for procurement issues.
“When the AG begins to prosecute them, and some are being jailed, it will serve as a deterrent for others to follow”, he insisted.
He further noted that for breaches of uncompetitive procurement, they will not waste time adding them to a growing list of people and institutions as it happened in the northern region, “and by the time we finish the whole country, we will have a very tall list of candidates for prosecution”.
Mr. Avedzi, who is also the MP for Ketu North, advised the institutions to work and ensure that they follow the recommendations of the report.
“The thirty days window given to them after the exit conference should be utilized to ensure that their names and infractions are not reported in the auditor’s report at all. But once they are reported, we will call them whenever we are meeting”.
Mr. Avedzi said the committee is also expected to sit on the 2019 Auditor general’s report in 2022.
The six days committee sitting is also considering the report of the Auditor General on the accounts of District Assemblies and the management and utilization of the District Assemblies Common Fund for 2018.
