Accra, March 11, GNA - The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Thursday recommended that public officers found to have misappropriated or embezzled funds should be made to refund the amount involved with interest in addition to the institution of the appropriate court action.

The suggestion is contained in a report presented to Parliament by Mr Alban Bagbin, Chairman of the Committee on the Auditor-General's Reports for the years ending 31st December 1998 and 1999.

Mr Bagbin said an accumulated amount of about 1.4 billion have been misappropriated or embezzled by public officials between 1997 and 1999.

The Ministries of Education, Health, and Food and Agriculture "were the worst victims of this rape by public officials". He said for instance a total of about 993 million cedis and 93 million cedis were noted to have either been misappropriated or embezzled by officials of the Ministry of Health and Education respectively.

Mr Bagbin who is also the Minority Leader, said the Committee noted that a major cause of the phenomenon was the lack of supervision over officers entrusted to handle public funds by their superiors to ensure that such moneys were either used for the purposes for which they were intended or paid into public chest.

He explained that another cause of the high rate of misappropriations and embezzlements was that "officers with little or no knowledge in accounting or the rules governing financial administration in the public service are often made to take charge of such matters as a result of the absence of qualified officers.

"This situation is particularly prevalent within the Regional and District Units. The few qualified officers in these Ministries mostly refuse posting to the rural and deprived areas".

The Minority Leader said in cases where lapses were detected there was the lack of commitment in applying the required sanctions while the sanctioning regime as stipulated in the FAD and Financial Administration Regulation (FAR) and the various finance and accounting instructions were outmoded and not deterrent enough.

"What is more worrying is that, where these lapses were detected, the sanctions were either not applied at all, and in some cases the officers were merely transferred to another department to take charge of higher responsibilities."

The committee, therefore, recommended that Internal Audit Units should be strengthened by appointing well-qualified officers and equip them with the necessary tools to enable them execute their task, adding that the powers granted these units should also be enhanced and backed by appropriate statute.

Mr Bagbin said a total misapplications recorded by the Auditor-General in the reports was approximately 2.6 billion cedis and the committee noted with concern the way and manner the public funds were used for purposes not approved by Parliament.

He said, notable among these include the misapplication of an amount of 1,462,134,658.99 cedis by the Judicial Service, which was withdrawn from the Service's Deposit Account and used in supplementing its subvention.

Again, an amount of 958,145,464 cedis was withdrawn from the Guard Duties Account of the Ghana Police Service for the construction of residential flats.

The Committee Chairman said the primary cause of this phenomenon was delays in the release of funds by the Ministry of Finance to meet programmed expenditure of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). He stated that sometimes this situation compelled public officers to compromise on the rules governing the financial management of their departments, in order to satisfy urgent and important expenditure. Mr. Bagbin said, for example as a result of delay in releasing funds to the Luanda Mission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had to direct the Beijing Mission, to transfer a total of 50,000 US dollars from its locally generated revenue to the Luanda Mission instead of lodging that money into the Consolidated Fund.

The Committee, therefore, recommended strict compliance with all the financial rules and regulations and desist from applying public funds for purposes not provided for by the Appropriations Act. It also urged the Central Medical Stores in Tema to seek the appropriate approval before using money in the Drugs Account for non-drug related expenses in order not to abuse the Accounts. It further advised the Ministry of Finance to ensure the timely release of funds for programmed expenditures while entreating MDAs to effectively priorities their needs in the drafting and implementation of their budgets.

Captain Nkrabea Effah Dartey (Rtd), NPP-Berekum said it was very interesting and sad to note that the period under-view saw rampant mismanagement and corruption in the former government of which the Chairman was a member.

He said there was the lack of supervision of people in authority resulting in irresponsible acts costing government billions of cedis. Capt Dartey called on the Attorney General to persecute those who have gone contrary to financial rules and to make them pay for it.