The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has questioned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs over a number of financial violations, including purportedly unpaid salaries and disturbances.
On Tuesday in Parliament House, Accra, Mr. James Gyekye Quayson, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, led the ministry’s defense before the committee.
The Auditor-General’s report states that 19 employees at the Ankara mission, including the former head of mission, received unearned imprests totaling €16,226 that has since been reimbursed, while three Foreign Service Officers at the Abuja mission received unearned wages.
This was revealed during the public hearing.
The report also states that “The sum of $5,800 used to purchase a MacBook Air laptop and three Samsung S10 phones by the former Head of Mission for Malabo, Mrs. Esther Dzifa-Ofori, remains unaccounted for.”
The Ministry’s Chief Director, Ambassador Ramses J. Cleland, told the Committee during his appearance before PAC that he had contacted Mrs. Dzifa-Ofori, who is presently outside of Ghana.
A former accountant embezzled money from home-based officials into a euro account at the Prague Mission, according to the Auditor-General’s report.
The ministry’s lack of transparency in its financial transactions and its refusal to account for the money spent to buy electronic equipment have drawn criticism from the PAC.
The ranking member of PAC, Mr. Samuel Atta Mills, underlined the necessity of the ministry acting right away to resolve these problems and stop future violations of this kind.
From Tuesday, August 19 to Tuesday, August 26, the New Patriotic Party MP for Atiwa East, Madam Abena Osei Asare, will chair the PAC of Parliament in a public hearing to review the Auditor-General’s report on Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) for the fiscal year that concluded on December 31, 2024.
The Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection, the Office of the Head of Civil Service, and the National Information Technology Agency (NITA) also made appearances at the hearing on Monday.
The committee honored the late Environment Minister, Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, who died two weeks ago in a helicopter crash with seven other people, with a moment of silence before the session began.
He served in the Eighth Parliament as a PAC member.
The Auditor-General’s report, which emphasized important issues such as Ghana’s public debt and flaws in asset management and financial reporting, will be examined during the six-day public hearing.
Source: newsthemegh.com