The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday suspended their sitting midway following the explanation by officials of the Bank of Ghana (BoG) that they were not prepared to answer questions relating to financial transactions in the Auditor-General’s reports.
The bank’s officials, led by the Deputy Assistant Director at the Banking Department, Mr Leslie Akron, told the PAC that they got the information to appear before the committee only yesterday morning and, therefore, they did not have any briefing to answer questions relating to the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Auditor-General’s reports from the PAC.
Besides, he said, the internal auditor of the BoG was supposed to be present to lead them in answering the questions.
The Chairman of the PAC, Mr Kweku Agyeman Manu, and other members expressed dissatisfaction at the failure of the BoG officials to prepare adequately for the sitting.
Mr Agyeman Manu rescheduled the sitting to tomorrow and demanded that the governor or at least a deputy governor be present at the sitting.
“Unfortunately, we have to reschedule this meeting. Come with the governor or at least a deputy governor,” he demanded.
Leading the onslaught, a Deputy Chairman of PAC, Mr Samuel Atta Akyea, said unless there was an express permission, the governor himself “has to come with his technical men”.
“We should not change the rules at all. I am disappointed that the whole meeting should be suspended because of this problem,” he said.
Late start
Officials of the BoG, the Ministry of Finance, the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), were invited by the PAC to answer questions on the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Auditor-General’s reports.
Mr Agyeman Manu had to delay the start of the sitting for about one hour because officials of the BoG were not present.
He explained that officials from all the four institutions were supposed to be present to answer specific questions relating to their respective institutions.
After waiting for about one hour, Mr Agyeman Manu decided to start the sitting with officials from the Ministry of Finance, the CAGD and the GRA.
The BoG officials showed up at midday when sitting had started and their explanation necessitated the suspension of the sitting.
Explanation
The Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance, Major Mahama Samuel Tara (retd), told the PAC that the letter inviting the institutions mentioned the Commissioner-General of the GRA, the Controller and Accountant-General, the Chief Government Statistician and officials of the BoG.
He said it was the operative phrase “officials of the Bank of Ghana” that might have led to the bank delegating the officials, instead of the governor or any of his deputies.
Source: Daily Graphic
