[ 2014-09-18 ]

BoG Faces PAC Over Missing $600m Today
Officials of the Bank of Ghana will appear before
the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament
today over foreign exchange receipts, particularly
the disputed $600 million which is alleged to be
missing from the accounts of the bank's foreign
reserves.

The last time officials of the bank met the PAC,
the issue of the 'missing' money came up; but
explanations given by the delegated official, Yaw
Abalo, who is the head of treasury at the bank,
did not satisfy committee members, who insisted
that the Governor himself or any of his deputies
appear before the committee to properly answer
questions on how those monies were expended.

The PAC is also expected to look at the accounts
of the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC)
today.

It could not however sit yesterday as scheduled
because some of the principal auditees did not
receive their invitation on time.

The committee was supposed to look at the Mining
Development Fund and some of its beneficiaries;
but Chief Executives of invited beneficiaries like
the Obuasi Municipal Assembly in the Ashanti
Region, together with Tarkwa/Nsuaem and
Prestea-Hemang-Huni Valley, both in the Western
Region, sent information at the eleventh hour that
they did not receive the information on time from
their parent Ministry—the Ministry of Local
Government and Rural Development—so they should
be given more time to be able to appear.

The chairman of PAC, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, told
DAILY GUIDE yesterday that he was disappointed
that officials of the invited municipal and
district assemblies could not meet the committee
to explain how monies appropriated from the mining
fund were used.

According to him, invitation letters were
dispatched on time to the Ministry of Local
Government and Rural Development for onward
transmission to the beneficiary assemblies, so
they would appear before the committee; but the
letters were said to have reached them late.

He said a new date would have to be fixed for them
to appear before the committee.

A member of the committee and New Patriotic Member
of Parliament for Bunkpurugu, Solomon Namliit
Boar, has, in the meantime, urged members of the
public as well as media practitioners to support
the work of the committee, which tries to ensure
accountability in governance.

He said previously, people did not have enough
confidence in the work of the PAC because after
the committee's recommendations, no action seemed
to be taken on it.

He said now the committee had developed a process
where it would closely monitor the executive to
ensure that its recommendations were carried to
the letter.

“We now have a sub-committee to monitor the
process and report back to the plenary,” he
said, adding that through the efforts of the
committee, over GH¢1 million of misappropriated
fund had been refunded to the state in the past
year.

“As a new member of the committee, I have
realised that almost all the committee members,
whether from the ruling party or the opposition,
have been diligent and impartial to ensure that
all those who appear before us are well
scrutinised.”

Source - Daily Guide

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