PAC refers three Central Region SHSs to Attorney General over procurement breaches

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has referred three senior high schools in the Central Region to the Attorney General's Department for possible prosecution over procurement breaches captured in the 2024 Auditor-General’s Report.

The move follows findings of irregular procurement practices, including cases where due process was not followed in sourcing goods and services.

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Ranking Member of the Committee, Samuel Atta Mills, while speaking to Channel One on May 5, 2026, disclosed that one of the affected schools, Eguafo Senior High School, procured goods worth GH¢122,192 from 19 different vendors without competitive bidding.

He explained that the law requires institutions to obtain multiple bids before selecting a supplier, but this was not followed.

“There are so many issues with procurement, and I have referred three institutions,” he said.

He added that some officials ignored basic procurement rules and chose suppliers without proper comparison.

“You see, what you are supposed to do is, before you get into any kind of procurement, you are supposed to get three bids, and then you pick the best. But most of them, they just pick one. They take one bid, and then they work with it,” he stated.

The Ranking Member also described instances where procurement processes were manipulated to satisfy audit requirements.

He said some schools approached vendors only to obtain invoices for records, even when they had already decided to use different suppliers.

“In fact, in one of the schools, when they went to get invoices, the purveyor didn't want to give it to them because they already knew they were going to pick somebody else,” he revealed.

“They just wanted his receipts just to put them out there for the auditors, and that's not what the law says,” he added.

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Atta Mills stressed the need for strict adherence to procurement laws and warned officers to comply with the rules.

“So if you are working in procurement, you need to make sure that you follow the rules,” he cautioned.

MAG/VPO

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