The Auditor-General’s report for 2017 has discovered that GHS111,280,672 worth of irregular payments were made to some suppliers.

“We observed during our review of the modes of payment for self-service and third-party transaction anomalies in some of the payments”, the report said, adding: “Third-party transactions meant to be paid directly to vendors were rather paid directly to the spending officers”.

“We recommended that the PFM Secretariat should, as a matter of urgency, sensitise the MDAs to delineate the mode of payment for allowances from that of third parties”, the report proposed.

Also, the report said GS14,145,119.43 payments were made to suppliers without a purchase order and store receipt advice.

"We observed weakness during our review of the P2P processes that transactions could be completed without raising purchase order nor SRA. We noted that 4 transactions amounting to GHS 14,145,119.43 in respect of the supply of various goods and services had neither PO nor SRA.

"To minimise the risk of illegitimate payments, we also advised CAG to carry out an investigation into this matter and sanction persons who would be found culpable.

"Furthermore, we urged CAG to reconfigure the GIFMIS system to prevent a recurrence", the report said.

The Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana (Consolidated Fund) for the financial year ended 31 December 2017 was prepared under Section 11 of the Audit Service Act, 2000 for presentation to Parliament in accordance with Section 20 of the Act.

In accordance with Article 187(5) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana and Section 23(1) of the Audit Service Act 2000 (Act, 584), the Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Domelevo, said in the report: “I have the honour to present my report on the Public Accounts of Ghana for the year ended 31 December 2017 to be laid before Parliament”.

The Controller and Accountant-General (CAG) is mandated under Section 81(1) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), to prepare and submit to the Minister and the Auditor-General, within three months after the end of the financial year, the following consolidated annual accounts of Government: the consolidated annual accounts of Government including the accounts specified in the Schedule; the accounts of the Contingency Fund; and the accounts of the Petroleum Funds.


Source: Ghana/ClassFMonline.com/91.3FM