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GH20m Budget Baloons To GH200m

28.06.2016 LISTEN
By Ghanaian Chronicle

… PAC Interrogates Ato Forson Over GYEEDA' sMagic

By Maxwell Ofori
A Deputy Minister of Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson has told the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament that his ministry released the GHs199, 311,753 to GYEEDA through the Ministry of Sports to settle its service providers.

The Ministry of Youth and Sports was allocated an amount of GH20 million for its activities in 2012, but the Auditor General discovered that the actual money spent was in excess of GH200 million.

Responding to the issue before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday, Deputy Finance Minister said the ministry released the money based on a request from the Sports Ministry and that the intervention prevented a possible judgment debt against the state.

“Ministry of Youth and Sports sent notice that the agency (GYEEDA) had awarded contracts and needed money to make payments and if the ministry doesn’t pay, it could result in additional cost or judgment debt,” he stated.

The over expenditure was reportedly used to settle projects undertaken by some service providers under GYEEDA, now Youth Employment Agency (YEA). However, the Auditor General in its 2013 report indicated that most of the payments were made without supporting documents.

At the PAC meeting yesterday, Mr Ato Forson, together with the Head of Budget Implementation at the Ministry of Finance, Mr Appiah Agyei and the Internal Auditor at the same ministry, Mr Annor Kusi, were questioned on why the ministry released supplementary funds to the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Mr Ato Forson responded that the ministry of finance only acted on a request after doing its verifications. Explaining whether or not his ministry took the necessary measures to ensure they were paying for the right deal, Mr Forson said MOF insisted on a commencement certificate before making any payments.

“The ministry sent back any document without commencement certificate,” he added. According to him, MOF collates requests, do the necessary verification and if satisfied, payments are made, citing that in this case, “we were satisfied with the request”.

He said there was the need to release the money because, “I’ve seen instances where a contract of 1cedi could end up at 3cedis because of delay in payments.”Meanwhile, the Auditor General in its report recommended that the release of the money to the companies must be investigated.

GYEEDA was a public initiative geared towards youth development. It, however, failed to achieve its purpose as it was characterized by shady deals and corrupt activities.

Following reports of mismanagement of state funds, government in 2012 ordered for an investigation into activities of GYEEDA and subsequently terminated the contracts with the various companies.

Former GYEEDA boss, Abuga Pele and Philip Assibit were later hauled before court for the various roles they played in the programme.

Government in December 2015 blacklisted companies indicted in the corruption scandal that hit GYEEDA. The announcement was made by the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu.

Although he did not mention the companies involved, Haruna Iddrisu said government has decided to blacklist all the companies in a move to serve as a deterrent and to curb corruption in the country.

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