The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, Alban S.K. Bagbin has called for urgent measures to beef up the capacity of the Auditor Generals Department to enable it to carry out its duties efficiently since the department is currently overwhelmed by the volume of work.

He said a number of audited reports such as the district assemblies audited report for 1997 as well as the Common Fund audit report for that same year are outstanding while a lot of forensic auditing needs to be done.

Mr. Bagbin who is also the Minority Leader and NDC member for Nadowli North said these when he summed up discussions on the Auditor-General’s Reports on the Statement of Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments of the Bank of Ghana for the half years ended December 31,1997, June 30, 1998, and December 31 1998, which was approved by Parliament yesterday.

He commended his colleague Parliamentarians for their comments and said these will guide the Auditor General’s Department in the compilation of future reports.

Throwing more light on the loans advanced to some companies, which have not been repaid as captured in the report, he said the grants were in the form of equipment, which were supplied to the companies.

Members commented on various aspects of the report and some expressed concern about the delay on the part of the Auditor General in submitting the report