The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, James Klutse Avedzi, who is also the MP for Ketu North, has announced that the management of the Gomoa East Assembly will be surcharged due to their failure to provide an HP laptop and five boxes of rain boots for audit inspection.
Auditors revealed that the HP laptop, purchased in November 2018 for GH¢3,980.00, was issued to the Head of Budget without the necessary documentation.
Additionally, the five boxes of rain boots, valued at approximately GH¢7,200 and supplied to the Assembly by the Regional Coordinating Council, are also unaccounted for.
This statement was made during the PAC’s ongoing investigations into the Auditor-General’s report for the year ending 2023 in Takoradi, where various Municipal and District Assemblies, Technical Universities, Colleges of Education, and Senior High Schools have been identified for various infractions.
The Assembly authorities informed the Committee that the matter has been reported to the police for investigation. They also mentioned that the storage facilities at the Assembly are inadequate to hold all items, necessitating their storage on the premises.
The PAC has ordered that the value of the missing items be compensated within two weeks.
The Chairman stated, “I can assure you that reporting the issue to the police will not yield results; therefore, the Head of Budget must be surcharged for the loss of the laptop. Thus, we are imposing the surcharge on the Head of Budget.”
The PAC’s public hearing in Takoradi, the capital of the Western Region, is scheduled to conclude today.
