The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Monday, September 12, 2022, referred Sefwi Wiawso College of Education and OLA Colleges of Education to the Attorney General for prosecution over procurement infractions.
On the first day of the PAC sittings in Takoradi for the Western, Central and Western North Regions, the committee slammed the Sefwi Wiawso College of Education for inappropriately terminating a supply contract and rewarding it to a new supplier at a cost of GH¢13,611.
After referring leadership of the college to the Attorney General’s office, the Public Accounts Committee also asked them to refund the amount in question.
OLA College of Education on the other hand was referred to the Attorney General’s office for awarding 27 supply contracts amounting to over GH¢400,000 without following the required procurement procedures.
The college was also surcharged GH¢4,500 for penalties incurred for the delay in paying the withheld tax.
The Vice Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Samuel Atta-Mills while speaking to Citi News on issues that came up on the first day of sittings in Takoradi warned public officials that the Committee is committed to making corrupt public officials pay for their actions.
“The issues that came up were mainly unsupported PVs and unearned salary payments, among others to do with procurement irregularities. Where we don’t have competitive procurement, we recommend you to the Attorney General for him to prosecute you and then make sure you follow the rules and regulations. On day one, we had about three institutions, but throughout our tour, this time around we’ve had probably over eighty. Today is only the first day and I’m sure by the time we will finish our work this week, some institutions will also be recommended for the Attorney General. They need to pay attention to government’s money. When we give you government’s money for you to spend, you need to make sure you spend it on the things you are supposed to spend. The message we want to send around is that, corruption does not pay and if you don’t pay attention we will make you pay for it”, he said.
Beside Sefwi Wiawso College of Education and OLA College of Education, Cape Coast Technical University, Holy Child College of Education, Bia Lamplighter College Of Education and Takoradi Technical University also appeared before the committee.
The committee among other things commended Takoradi Technical University’s team for its improved Internally Generated Funds (IGF), which the Finance Director of TTU, Dr. Gabriel Sam Arhinful attributed to increased enrolment and introduction of new programmes.
