THE Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, has described the decision of the former Chief of Staff, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, to draw monies from the Special Projects Account of the Ministry of Works and Housing as untenable and unjustifiable and a serious breach of the law and standing regulations.
He said the Office of the Chief of Staff has its own budget ?and if at any given time, the office needs money, it has to write to the Ministry of Finance for such releases to be made to it.?
Throwing more light on the furore generated by the report of the Audit Service into the renovation of government bungalows and allied projects in an interview in Accra yesterday, Mr Bagbin queried the capacity in which Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, now substantive Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, requested for those monies when his office was neither an awarding nor a supervisory agency for the said contracts.
?In any case, they have still not told us what they used the money for,? he stated.
According to Mr Bagbin, when the subject was made public, Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey refuted the allegations by saying it was a lie and that nothing of the sort took place.
?Now, he is saying the money has been accounted for without telling Ghanaians what the money was used for,? he stressed.
?It was irregular for the Chief of Staff to have written to the Ministry of Works and Housing for such funds. He should have written to the Ministry of Finance,? he explained.
On the issue of whether the report is interim or final, the Minority Leader stated that it was the final report of the audit team.
He said the team in the report made references to discussions with management after which the queries were raised for answers to be provided. Mr Bagbin, who is the Member of Parliament for Nadowli North, said the government has no tangible explanation to give to Ghanaians hence the argument that it was an interim report.
The Minority Leader noted that when the government requested an audit of district assemblies, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development went to press with an interim report, without contacting the affected persons for their comments.
?No queries were issued, neither were the affected persons invited for interrogation,? he stated.
Mr Bagbin said in this instance, unlike the other cases, the affected persons were given 30 days to respond to the questions but they failed to do so. He said although the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on assumption of government told Ghanaians that the NDC left nothing in the kitty, ?the NPP has proved to all that the NDC left something in the kitty and that they (NPP) are rather extravagant.?
He said the NPP failed to look at the vision of the country and read the documents the NDC left behind otherwise, ?they would not be making such huge and unnecessary expenses.?
According to Mr Bagbin, the colonial buildings were to be demolished and rebuilt with sky high buildings to accommodate the increasing workforce in the metropolis.
He said the argument of the NPP that it wanted to improve the value of the houses is untenable ?because no developer would maintain those weak two-bedroom houses.?
He described the investment as ?a complete waste of national resources which must be accounted for and those in charge taken to task for their actions.?
THE Minority Leader, Mr Alban Bagbin, has described the decision of the former Chief of Staff, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, to draw monies from the Special Projects Account of the Ministry of Works and Housing as untenable and unjustifiable and a serious breach of the law and standing regulations.
He said the Office of the Chief of Staff has its own budget ?and if at any given time, the office needs money, it has to write to the Ministry of Finance for such releases to be made to it.?
Throwing more light on the furore generated by the report of the Audit Service into the renovation of government bungalows and allied projects in an interview in Accra yesterday, Mr Bagbin queried the capacity in which Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey, now substantive Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, requested for those monies when his office was neither an awarding nor a supervisory agency for the said contracts.
?In any case, they have still not told us what they used the money for,? he stated.
According to Mr Bagbin, when the subject was made public, Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey refuted the allegations by saying it was a lie and that nothing of the sort took place.
?Now, he is saying the money has been accounted for without telling Ghanaians what the money was used for,? he stressed.
?It was irregular for the Chief of Staff to have written to the Ministry of Works and Housing for such funds. He should have written to the Ministry of Finance,? he explained.
On the issue of whether the report is interim or final, the Minority Leader stated that it was the final report of the audit team.
He said the team in the report made references to discussions with management after which the queries were raised for answers to be provided. Mr Bagbin, who is the Member of Parliament for Nadowli North, said the government has no tangible explanation to give to Ghanaians hence the argument that it was an interim report.
The Minority Leader noted that when the government requested an audit of district assemblies, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development went to press with an interim report, without contacting the affected persons for their comments.
?No queries were issued, neither were the affected persons invited for interrogation,? he stated.
Mr Bagbin said in this instance, unlike the other cases, the affected persons were given 30 days to respond to the questions but they failed to do so. He said although the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on assumption of government told Ghanaians that the NDC left nothing in the kitty, ?the NPP has proved to all that the NDC left something in the kitty and that they (NPP) are rather extravagant.?
He said the NPP failed to look at the vision of the country and read the documents the NDC left behind otherwise, ?they would not be making such huge and unnecessary expenses.?
According to Mr Bagbin, the colonial buildings were to be demolished and rebuilt with sky high buildings to accommodate the increasing workforce in the metropolis.
He said the argument of the NPP that it wanted to improve the value of the houses is untenable ?because no developer would maintain those weak two-bedroom houses.?
He described the investment as ?a complete waste of national resources which must be accounted for and those in charge taken to task for their actions.?
