PAC recommends payment of taxes, SSNIT contributions by foreign service staff
The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration to initiate steps for taxes and social security deductions of staff of the ministry in missions abroad to be paid to the Ghana Revenue Authority and the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
Advertisement
The Auditor-General, in his 2013 report, observed that statutory deductions were not made from the personal emoluments of staff of the ministry who were on the payroll of the Controller and Accountant-General who served abroad as required by law.
The Auditor-General also observed that although the officers on the payroll did not enjoy any tax exemptions, the Controller and Accountant-General failed to pay them net of tax as required in section five of the Internal Revenue Act.
The report also noted the employees' contribution of five and half per cent of the workers' salary were also not deducted at source as required under section 3 (1) of the National Pensions Act ,2008, Act 766.
It further noted that only deductions on the payroll were in respect of housing rentals.
Although the Auditor - General recognised the diplomatic immunities of foreign affairs staff, he was of the view that the act did not exempt the foreign mission staff from their tax obligations as Ghanaians working in various Ghana missions abroad.
Ms Tetteh ' s response
The Minister Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Ms Hanna Tetteh, had told the committee that staff of the ministry in missions abroad did not pay taxes and social security contributions on their salaries.
Ms Tetteh said since 1987, when Dr Obed Asamoah was then Minister of Foreign Affairs and when salaries of staff of the ministry serving abroad were reviewed, that had been the practice.
She admitted that it was an anomaly but said she could not do anything on her own to change the situation.
She said it had to be corrected.
Ms Tetteh said it was a problem that confronted the ministry now and that she had engaged in consultation with SSNIT about it.
She said about 16 retirees in missions abroad were waiting for the outcome of the consultations to receive their SSNIT benefits.
She said the problem was "hold over" from previous government and since democracy was reintroduced in 1992, it remained to be addressed.
The Chairman of the committee, Mr Kwaku Agyeman - Manu, said the problem needed to be addressed holistically because staff of the Ghana Armed Forces and officials of the Ministry of Trade who were attached to missions abroad could also be affected.
He underscored the plight of affected staff and said " I understand why my cousin in the foreign service died just three months after retirement. "
Internally generated funds
The Minister of Justice and Attorney - General, Mrs Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, who, also appeared before the committee for the non - payment of internally generated funds (IGF) and the printing of value books, explained that the ministry had rectified the anomaly with regard to the IGF.
She, however, explained that her outfit resorted to the printing of its own value books when it started its e governance project and the registration of businesses on line due to the urgency of the project.
She said with the current situation, a business entity could have been registered in an hour, but for bureaucracy in terms of
dealing with the huge number of applications and the limited number of staff to work on them.
An official of the Economic and Organised Crime Office ( EOCO ) said some of the 37 entities, including Afariwaa Farms, which benefitted from a loan, were paying back their loans while others are contesting the payment in court.
The others
Earlier, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, had explained that the ministry had to make use its IGF to defray cost incurred on the Accra Stadium due to inadequate proceeds from football matches.
Dr Mustapha said due to low patronage of matches at the stadium, it had become increasingly difficult to maintain the stadium and print tickets for matches.
He said the National Sports Authority (NSA) had to sink three boreholes at the stadium to maintain the turf because it could not pay for water used from the Ghana Water Company Limited.
He said in view of the low patronage of the stadium, the NSA is trying to use event organisers with the view ti maximising revenue.
The Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Nii Osah Mills, said so far, the ministry had made good its financial obligations to the Controller and Accountant-General since its attention was drawn to non payment of IGF
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Isaac Adjei Mensah, said the Ghana Highway Authority(GNA) had been engaged in consultation with the Ministry of Finance on the retention of all its IGF due to insufficient budgetary allocation.
