Within two years, an amount of US$105,000 has been spent on the official foreign trips of the Commissioner on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Madam Lauretta Vivian Lamptey.
A significant part of the expenses relates to ticket upgrades to business class, when organisers of the international conferences she attends make provision for economy class.
Since her appointment in 2011, the embattled Commissioner makes an average of three trips in a month.
Copies of some of the official documents sighted by the Graphic Business show.
The frequency of the travels of the commissioner, according to sources within CHRAJ, has rendered the commission ineffective in the administration of justice and human rights.
Currently, CHRAJ spends a significant portion of its budgetary allocations on foreign trips of its management staff.
GRAPHIC BUSINESS, a large portion of the expenditure was expended on ticket upgrade to business class when the organisers of the international conference had made arrangement for economy class.
The commission spends on the average between to US$2,500 to US $4,000 on each of the travels of its commissioner.
Ms Lamptey has come under fire for spending thousands of dollars on a rented apartment and on hotel bills using the scarce resources of the Commission which is struggling to perform its mandate because of financial problems.
Some of the aggrieved workers of the commission who accused the commissioner for not paying their medical bills, which had been in arrears for more than two years due to the lack of funds have submitted loads of office memos of the commissioner’s frequent travel itinery, which suggest excessive spending on international trips.
The commission has been largely relying on the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for support to run most of its programmes.
This year, DANIDA is supporting the commission with GH¢7.5 million to complement the central government’s allocation of GH¢1.5 million.
Background
Ms Lamptey is an investment banker and specialist in African capital markets and corporate finance.
She was the Head of Corporate Finance at Cal Merchant Bank. Prior to that, she was the Head of the Capital Markets Group at Ecobank Ghana Ltd.
She was also formerly Legal & Corporate Finance Advisor at Loita Capital Partners International, a pan-African investment banking group based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
As a consultant, she has provided legal, financial and investment advice for the government of Ghana on transactions in the mining, natural resources and energy sectors.
Ms Lamptey has served on the boards of the Securities Discount Company (SDC) and Gliksten W. A., in addition to serving as a founder member of the board of the Ghana Stock Exchange.
She holds LL.B and BL degrees from the University of Ghana and the Ghana Law School, respectively, and an LL.M in International Business Law from the London School of Economics & Political Science, University of London.
[email protected] 
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(Nana Kwesi)