General News of Wednesday, 22 June 2016
Source: citifmonline.com
EC Chair – Charlotte Osei
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed the Electoral Commission to take immediate steps to account for over 1.5 million Ghana cedis paid to the Western Regional Electoral Officer of the Commission in 2012.
The money, according to the EC, was given to the officer in question to undertake various projects in the region in 2012.
It, however, emerged during the PAC sitting that three years down the line, the Commission has not been able to account for the 1.5 million cedis.
The Head of Accounts at the EC, Kwaku Owusu Agyei Larbi, told the Committee that the EC will investigate why the full amount of the money was not used to execute the project.
“I have to look at it and be able to tell the Committee what actually happened. If it is confirmed that this is not in the account, it will be addressed.”
Officials of the EC also briefed the panel on the progress they have made in securing the title deeds and other related documents for the purchase of some properties by the Commission.
A 2014 report by the Auditor-General on the audited accounts of the EC has revealed that during the year under review, the Commission acquired two plots of land which were transferred to it at Garu-Tempane District in the Upper East Region; and a property situated on Plot No. 39, Block B – Gyinyase, Kumasi.
The Commission also acquired a landed property at Sekondi (2011) in the Western Region; purchased a SSNIT property in Tamale in the Northern Region; and the construction of a warehouse at Akosombo in the Eastern Region.
During the period under review, the Commission was headed by Dr. Kwadwo Afari Gyan, who has since retired.