The Controller and Accountant General’s Department has told the Public Accounts Committee that it is unable to justify expenses by most ministries, departments and government agencies because they were made during the 2012 election year.
Most ministries, departments and agencies of government exceeded their budgetary allocations by over 300% in 2012 alone.
This is according to a report by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department to Parliament.Taking her turn before Parliament’s PAC, Controller and Accountant General Grace Adzroe cited the electoral commission, National Commission for Civic Education, Ministries of Energy, Youth and Sports and chieftaincy as some of the ministries and institutions who over shot their allocations under the appropriations act.
She said though the CAGD was unable to account for the expenses, the introduction of the financial management system-GIFMIS will curtail the irregularities.
“Going forward because it is a structural issue as a country we are moving to a point where we should just have one common data base for our financial so that when we all log on, we have one source of preparing accounts for the country but in so far as we have now, under the semi automated system, we have discreet systems,” she said.
“These things are likely to keep on occurring but I think it has been recognised that there is the need for us to have a common data base and that is how come we came up with the GIFMIS.We are interfacing with Bank of Ghana to ensure that these discrepancies don’t continue to happen.”
MMDAs blow Common Fund in 3 regions – PAC reveals
The issue of overspending in various government agencies has been lingering for sometime now.
Last year it was revealed three regions of the north deliberately misused their share of the District Assembly Common Fund.
It became clear that most district assemblies in the area which is considered as the poorest simultaneously repeated financial infractions which were detected by the Auditor Generals Department from 2010 to 2012.
By: Marian Efe Ansah
(Selorm) | 
(Nana Kwesi)