The 2020 Auditor General’s Report on Technical Universities and the Management and Utilization of District Assemblies’ Common Fund for the year which ended December 31, 2020 are being discussed by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, which has started meeting in Tamale.
Other Statutory Funds were being reviewed by PAC in the Northern, North East, Upper East, Upper West, and Savana Regions for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, according to a statement released by the Public Affairs Directorate of Parliament and copied to the Ghana News Agency.
It stated that the report, which covered the period from January 1 to December 31, 2020, was a compilation of the key conclusions and recommendations from the Auditor General’s routine audits of the nation’s 10 technical universities.
It was mentioned that the Northern, Middle, Central, and Southern Zones had been responsible for different aspects of the Committee’s work.
There were management problems at Hilla Limann, Bolgatanga, and Tamale Technical Universities, according to the report. These problems included failing to obtain Central Review Committee approval, failing to use the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System, failing to collect school fees, and under-deducting rent.
According to the statement, the Committee also discovered that Bolgatanga Technical University sold its vehicles at auction without getting permission from the appropriate parties.
It said that according to the Auditor General’s investigation, officials from the same institution were also discovered moving money to an unnamed SDF project account.
The committee’s chairman, Dr. James Klutse Avedzi, encouraged public institutions to make sure they operated in line with the Financial Management Act and the Public Procurement Laws to avoid breaking the rules and risking penalties.
According to the announcement, the government has ordered the majority of these organisations to return varying amounts of plundered money to it within two weeks.
Before travelling to the Middle Zone in the Bono East Region and the Savana Regions, it was said that the Committee will spend six days in the Northern Zone.