The Public Accounts Committee (PAC)of Ghana's Parliament will begin its public hearing on the Auditor General's (AG) Report on some key institutions from Tuesday April 25 to 28 this year.
Deputy Minority Leader and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, James Klutse Avedzi disclosed this at a three-day capacity building workshop at Koforidua in the Easten Region, for members of the Parliamentary Press Corps to report on the oversight functions of the Committee.
The workshop sponsored by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH ( GIZ ) was also to assist the media to report objectively on the outcome of the public hearings.
Mr Avedzi who is also Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu North said the hearings, would consider reports on the Bank of Ghana (BOG) Reciepts and Payment of Foreign Exchange Transactions for the first and second quarters of 2015, performance report on disposal of government vehicles by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
The Committee according to him would also consider the performance report on drug use in Ghana by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA)
He appealed to the media to be objective in its reportage during the public hearing and not to consider the AG's reports as a final document to make conclusive judgments.
A former MP for Asonafo South constituency and former member of the Committee in a presentation on "Legal framework underling the works of the PAC" urged the media to put pressure on heads of insitutions to ensure compliance with respect to the implementation of the PAC's recommendation in order to bring sanity into the public financial management system in the country.
He encouraged the media to specialise in auditing and follow up on issues raised by the AG in the reports as well as recommendations adopted by Parliament to its logical conclusion.
He called for more support for the Audit Service to enable it block areas of leakages and expose irregularities to protect the public purse .
The Dean of the Parliamentary Press Corps, Nana Agyeman Birikorang in his opening remarks expressed concerns over the unavailability of the AG's report to the media and urged the PAC to organise regular press briefings to equip the Members of the Press Corps with relevant information to ensure accurate reportage .
Members where taken through topics, including enhancing the work of the PAC through ethical effective and accurate reportage , Highlights on the Financial Administration Act,2003 ( Act 654) and the overview of the Financial Administration Regulation 2004 ( L.I 1802).
Other topics treated include ensuring public accountability under the Public Financial Management Act , 2016 (Act 192) : the role of the media as well as understanding common accounting terms , concepts and convilentions for effective media reportage .
Source: ISD ( Gilbert Ankrah )
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS