Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Hon. James Klutse Avedzi, has directed the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection to pay Caterers who provided meals for schools in the Volta Region during the 2019/20 academic year and are yet to receive payment.
This directive was issued during the Committee’s sitting in Parliament to review the Auditor-General’s Report on Government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies as of December 31, 2023.
Hon. Dakoa Newman, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, acknowledged the arrears, stating that it was an abnormally and that plans are underway to resolve it. She added that,the problem is not limited to the Volta Region but is a nationwide issue.
The Auditor-General’s report highlighted double payments to some Caterers in the school feeding programme, resulting in overpayments.
It recommended that the Agency’s Accountant recover the wrongly paid amounts and deposit them into the Auditor-General’s Recovery Account at the Bank of Ghana.
Hon. Dakoa Newman expressed her gratitude to the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, and all members of Parliament, past and present, including former Ministers of the Gender Ministry, for the passage of the Affirmative Action Bill 2024.
The report also cited the Labour Departments in Suhum and Takoradi for unpaid compensation to workers injured on the job.
Attendees at the Public Accounts Committee meeting included Hon. Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Welfare, and Hon. Amidu Issahaku Chinnia, Deputy Minister for the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources.
Officers from various agencies, including the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty Management Secretariat, Community Water and Sanitation Agency, School Feeding Programme, and Department of Social Welfare and Local Government Services, Head Office, Accra, were also present.
Hon. Avedzi announced that the Committee would take a one-week break and return on August 12, 2024, to examine the Auditor-General’s report on Government Boards, Corporations, and Commissions for the year ending December 31, 2023.
