(Public Accounts Committee sits today)

Page 16, Aug 19, 2009
Preview: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE constitutional mandate of Parliament to approve budgets and loans contracted by the government for the implementation of various policies and programmes will be meaningless unless measures are put in place to check the judicious use of such funds for their intended purposes.
That is why public interest was stimulated when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament opened its sitting to public to consider some reports submitted to Parliament by the Auditor-General for the first time last year.
Although the PAC has been in existence since Ghana returned to constitutional rule in January, 1993, it was not until last year when it conducted its first public sitting that Ghanaians got to know about the importance of Parliament in the performance of its oversight function over public institutions.
During that sitting, a lot of financial malfeasance was uncovered, particularly in the second-cycle educational institutions and some ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
Public attention is expected to be focused on the committee once more when it begins yet another public sitting from tomorrow, August 19 to 24, this year, to consider some reports submitted to Parliament by the Auditor-General.
While the committee considered financial audit reports of the Auditor-General during its first public sitting last year, it would this time round consider performance audit report of the Auditor-General about some programmes embarked upon by some institutions during its forthcoming public sitting.
The committee will examine the Performance Audit Report of the Auditor-General on the Management of Police Residential Accommodation, Performance Audit Report of Business Registration and Performance Audit Report on the Accountability Arrangements in Solid Waste Management.
Others areas expected to be covered include the Performance Audit Report on the Public Servants Housing Loan Scheme and the Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Pre-University Educational Institutions for the four-year period ending December 31, 2004.
The reports to be considered by the committee will, in no doubt, draw the attention of Parliament to irregularities and in some instances, as witnessed last year, embezzlement or misappropriation of public funds.
Parliament, is therefore, responsible for ensuring accountability and openness of government through its oversight activities of the executive and its auxiliary bodies in order to curb corruption and effect good governance practices.
The PAC has a membership of 25, which is made up of 13 from the Majority side and 12, including its chairman, from the Minority side. The current chairman of the committee is Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Afigya-Sekyere West.
During its deliberations, the chairman of the committee has no voting right except where there is a tie that he could use his vote to break such a deadlock.
It is expected that journalists who will cover the sitting would, to a large extent, avoid sensationalism and keep to the core objectives of the public sitting of the committee.
Accurate reportage, which shows balance and fairness, will be the necessary ingredients that should guide journalists who will cover proceedings of the second public sitting of the PAC.
It will also be important for the media to do follow-up checks and file stories on whether or not the recommendations made by the committee have been carried out.