A former Deputy Attorney General Joseph Kpemka Dindiok has called for dispassionate discussion of the 2021 Auditor General’s report.
He said the infractions that have been recorded in the report may not necessarily amount to corruption.
“We should not discuss this with emotions,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday September 3.
The former Member of Parliament for Tempane further stated that there are laws in the country to implement in order to reduce the infractions that are recoded in the report.
“We have enough constitutional guides, all we need to do is to implement them in their practical forms and minimize these infractions,” he said.
The report among other things captured Justices of the Supreme Court for ‘unlawful’ purchase of vehicles.
The 2021 report noted that between 2016 and 2021, the Judicial Service granted loans to 99 officers totalling GH¢303,709.94 and recovered a total amount of GH¢145,006.58 leaving an outstanding amount of GH¢158,703.36 as at 31 December 2021. 728.
“We recommended that the Judicial Secretary should liaise with the Controller and Accountant General to have the loans deducted from the salaries of the staff involved. Auction of official vehicles without authority – GH¢1,023,507.00 729,” it said.
Regulation 158 of Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378) states that, the Principal Spending Officer of a covered entity shall obtain the prior written approval of the Minister for the transfer, exchange, sale, donation, contribution-in-kind, trust and any other disposal of any vehicles of the covered entity.
Report_of_the_Auditor-General_on_the_Public_Accounts_of_Ghana_-_Ministries,_Departments_and_other_Agencies_for_the_year_ended_31_December_2021
Also, Regulation 158 states that, any disposal, lease and other action referred to in Sub-regulation 1 that is made without the written approval of the Minister, is void. 730.
“Our examination of records of the Transport Unit for 2021 revealed that 19 official vehicles were auctioned by the Service for GH¢1,023,507.96 without approval from the Minister of Finance.”
“In the absence of approval from the Minister for Finance, we recommended that the auction should be nullified, and the vehicles recovered,” the report said.
By Laud Nartey|3news.com|Ghana
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS