Auditor-General Orders Korle-Bu to Recover Missing Gh347,014 From Account Officers

The Auditor General (AG), Mr Daniel Yao Domelevo,has directed the management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra to recover GH¢347,014 from accounts officers of the hospital for disbursement made as expenditure without supported payment vouchers.

"In the absence of the payment vouchers, we were unable to authenticate the disbursements. We therefore request management to ensure that the schedule officers refund the amount of GH¢347,014 failure of which they would be surcharged.

According to the 2018 report by the AG, it said Regulation 39 of Financial Administration Regulations, 2004 requires that the head of accounts section of a department shall control the disbursements of funds and ensure that transactions are properly authenticated to show that amounts are due and payable and reject any disbursements that do not meet the requirement.

We observed during our review that the above provision was not fully complied with by the Hospital.

Still with the Kokrle Bu Teaching Hospital, the Auditor General has ordered the management to recover the total amount of GH¢54,157 from Mr James Clifford Oblitey, a staff of the Hospital who was given the amount through a sponsorship package as school fees payment to enable him to pursue a course in BIFM Level 2 Diploma in Facility Management at the College of Central London, United Kingdom (UK) from 2 January 2018 to March 2018.

In the report, the AG said: "We noted that though Mr Oblitey was not successful in securing the UK entry visa, he failed to return the fees granted him by the hospital's management for the course.

"Though it could be argued that the money was paid to the school, we are of the view that under such circumstance refunds are made to applicants net of administrative charges", the 2018 report added.

In view of this, the report recommended that the CEO should ensure the recovery of the total amount of GH¢54,157 from Mr James Clifford Oblitey less any administrative charges that must have accrued to the school.

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