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Wenchi Municipal Assembly blows GH₵38,000 on funerals;GH₵48m common funds missing

By Daily Guide
General News Wenchi Municipal Assembly blows GH38,000 on funerals;GH48m common funds missing
OCT 21, 2014 LISTEN

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has revealed that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions had failed to account for GH₵48.43 million of statutory funds for utilisation at their respective areas.

Chairman of PAC, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, who made the revelation, said this was contained in an Auditor General's report on management and utilisation of District Assemblies Common Funds (DACFs) and other statutory funds for the year 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Speaking at a sitting of the com­mittee in Kumasi yesterday, the PAC chairman indicated the frustration of the committee's members, noting that "the assemblies continue to violate rules, procedures and legal require­ment in the administration of funds."

According to him, the Auditor General's Department had estab­lished a pattern with which the assemblies mismanage public funds for development, and pointed to defi­ciencies in using internal controls to monitor these activities.

He called on managers at the var­ious assemblies to resolve to do better and develop the culture of applying funds to the intended purposes.

Sanction
Alhaji Ibrahim Dey Abubakari, Ranking Member of PAC, lamented a litany of violations of the financial regulations by the assemblies, and hinted of the committee's resolve to recommend sanctions and punish­ment for officers flouting regulations with impunity.

"We've realized that preaching alone does not solve the problem and it is our resolve to push for punish­ment against recalcitrant officers of the assemblies," he asserted.

This, in his view, would ensure that improper records keeping, omis­sions, violation of financial regula­tions and lack of documentation were not repeated in future.

"It will be a complete surcharge against any assembly's officer who fails to provide documentation for the utilisation and management of funds," Alhaji Abubakari, together with the chairman of the committee, sternly warned.

Other members of PAC took issues with non-retirement of imprests granted to some Metropoli­tan/-Municipal/District Chief Execu­tives by the Finance Officers.

GH₵38,000 On Funeral
The committee was not happy that the Wenchi Municipal Assembly blew as much as GH₵38,000 of DACF on funerals, donations and honorari­ums instead of Internally Generated Fund (IGF) and charged the MCE, Municipal Coordinating Director and Municipal Finance Officer to pay back the money.

Concerns were also raised about the failure of the assembly officers to keep proper records containing details of receipts covering payments.

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