PAC orders civil servant to return state vehicle

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament on Wednesday ordered a civil servant, Mr M. B. Alhassan, to immediately return a Nissan Patrol sports utility vehicle in his possession to the Local Government Service Secretariat.

Four years ago, when Mr Alhassan was transferred to the Secretariat, he was assigned the said vehicle for official use, but took it away for personal use when he left the Secretariat.

The PAC, which is querying some institutions on anomalies in the Auditor-General’s report on public accounts for 2011, 2012 and 2013, learnt the vehicle is presently grounded at a mechanic’s workshop in Tamale.

The Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Emmanuel Agyekum who was quizzed by the PAC on the issue, was asked to ensure that the Ministry compelled Mr Alhassan to fix and return the vehicle to the secretariat.

He would also pay for the cost of denying the Secretariat the use of the vehicle over the period he had it.

The Committee also called for the arrest of one Mr Sarfo, a former Central Regional Accountant of the Births and Deaths Registry for failing to account for an amount of GH? 56,447 being revenue collected on behalf of the registry in 2013.

The PAC took a swipe at the Public Works Department of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to provide receipts covering an amount of GH?1,059,659 in respect of building permits and penalties.

The committee has thus requested that officials of the AMA appear before it on Monday, April 18, to prove the availability of those receipts or be made to refund the money to the state.

The committee also expressed dissatisfaction about purchases made for the running of the NEPAD School Feeding amounting to GH?11,331 that were not recorded and routed through the Ministry’s stores in 2011.

The Deputy Minister in his response told the Committee that Mr Sarfo, has been taken to law court to retrieve the unaccounted revenue collected on behalf of the Registry.