Some members of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) were left bewildered about the absence of the Controller and Accountant General, Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem, during the committee's sittings on Monday, January 29, 2024.

Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem was scheduled to answer questions on behalf of his office, the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, an agency of the Ministry of Finance, but he did not show up, without permission from the committee.

The controller and accountant-general, who was looking to represent the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as parliamentary candidate at New Akyem Swedru, lost his bid during the polls on Saturday, January 27, 2024.

Kwaning-Bosompem was beaten handsomely by the incumbent Member of Parliament for the area, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, securing only 94 votes to the incumbent's 194.

During the PAC sitting on Monday, Abena Osei-Asare, a Deputy Minister for Finance, who led the ministry and its agencies, tried to explain the controller and accountant general’s absence but her explanation did not wash.

The Member of Parliament for Bole Bamboi, Yusif Sulemana, a member of PAC, said that Kwaning-Bosompem indicated that his contesting in the NPP primaries would not affect his work and for that matter, he cannot be absent just because he lost the primaries.

This comment by the MP led to an outburst of laughter at the committee sitting.

“I want to ask whether the controller is on leave. If he is on leave, let us know because we were told that he was contesting for an election and he said that he is still at post and is capable of handling the two activities, so why is he not here… he should have been here, regards the loss,” he Bole Bambi MP said.

The MP insisted that Osei-Asare should give a tangible reason the accountant-general was absent, but the Chairman of PAC, James Klutse Avedzi, came to the rescue of the deputy minister; asking members of the committee to shelve their questions on Kwaning-Bosompem for a later date.

BAI/AE

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