Public Accounts Committee Probing - Any Sanctions so far to protect the national purse?
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) proceedings under various chair of various political hegemonies has so far unearthed some malfeasance, misapplication of funds, maladministration, and wastage brewing within government agencies and institutions and this calls for concern to secure any porous administrative mechanisms of some of these institutions.
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The committee, under the previous administration (NDC) chaired by Mr Albert Kan Dapaah, now the Minister for National Security, unmasked some corruptible elements in the management of public funds, yet Ghanaians are yet to hear whether sanctions have been meted out to the culpable culprits.
The mother of all questions on the lips of well-meaning Ghanaians is, will there be any deterrent after all, if the committee comes out with findings implicating public and civil officers, yet no punishment is meted out or any attempt made to retrieve money into state coffers?
The ongoing Public Accounts Committee proceedings in the current administration, under the chairmanship of Mr James Avedzi, is another milestone in ensuring sanity in the management of public finances. However, wouldn’t such effort be a wild goose chase if it registered corruptible findings, yet, taxpayers do not hear of any sanctions to wrongdoings?
As the proceeding of the committee is aired, it is equally significant that any sanctions to wrongdoings is aired. That may give some level of hope to the taxpayer whose money is being misappropriated. When the taxpayer hear the misappropriation on the airwaves and do not hear any sanctions they begin to clamour and lose hope in the leadership of the country.
The Public Accounts Committee is not set up to punish but to make findings and recommend sanctions to wrongdoings if any to the appropriate authority for prosecution. Have there been any sanctions so far? If any, were those sanctions shrouded in secrecy? If so, why weren’t those sanctions equally aired as proceedings were?
So far, the current committee’s probing is beaming another misappropriation of public funds and the taxpayer is waiting to see the end result.
Probity, transparency and accountability are a yardstick to measure financial prudence and economic sanity on the scale of good governance. When there is such lack in the management of public finances, it tends to brew acrimony, rancour and clamour among the taxpaying workforce. Thus, it results in low productivity because the working force begin to murmur on the slogan “Monkey dey work, baboon dey chop” and it discourages them from working hard.
The public must see the effectiveness of the recommendation of the committee to make them hopeful that it is working on its intended purpose.
Admittedly, every human administration is susceptible to lapses and as such it must be noted that when effective mechanisms within an administration of any sort are not stipulated to ensure sanity and transparency in its day-to-day running, development will always lag.
A situation in which there has been reported cases of malfeasance within institutions with documentary evidence tendered to prove that the allegation is credible but the perpetrators of the crime are not brought to book, others may take undue advantage of such laxity on the part of law enforcers to follow suit.
The law system with its bureaucratic formalities has slowed the pace of punishment to be meted out to those who are alleged to have embezzled funds.
When prompt action is not effected on the findings of the Public Accounts Committee and the matter is left to die a natural death and the offenders walk about freely and are not made to refund stolen money to the coffers of the state’s limited resources, the country sinks deep into under-development.
The bureaucratic system of the law with its accompanying delays has led to the death of many who alleged to have stolen money with their cases pending investigations. The delays in the law system to that effect have left billions of cedis embezzled and lost to the state. “Justice delayed is justice denied”.
The President Nana Akufo-Addo administration is poised to sacrifice its manifesto on the altar of fighting corruption to be able to get value for money to execute its policies. When pragmatic mechanism is not stipulated to cork the leakage of financial waste, it goes a long way to clip the wings of the government in realising its vision and mission.
If possible a special court must be instituted as fast track to check the prosecution of malfeasance at the local assemblies in order that funds embezzled are refunded by the culprits with punishment meted out to them to serve as deterrent.