At its first ever public hearing yesterday, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee trained its lasers on the Tourism Ministry, ordering the Ministry and some agencies it had worked with in the past to cough up sums totaling a little over ?53m and $2500 into the government chest.Out of the amount, Prime Time Advertising Limited is to refund fifteen percent of an amount of ?14.5 million to government. The 15 percent represents an extra amount paid to the agency for the placement of advertisements in the media and for organising fund raising programmes.

The amounts were disbursed between 2002 and 2005, under the headships of the late Hawa Yakubu and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey. In the opinion of the Committee members, the current Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations, Stephen Asamoah Boateng, and his Chief Director, Bridget Kastiriku were unable to satisfactorily account for the monies allocated to the Ministry for the undertaking of its programmes, including the sums paid to the agency, during the period in question.

According to Committee members, there was no documentation for most of the Ministry's dealings with the agency, preventing a proper audit of the Ministry?s books. As a result, Ministry officials have been unable to answer queries raised by the Auditor General since 2003. The PAC, chaired by Samuel Sallas Mensah, NDC MP for Upper West Akyem, has also recommended that since the ministry has a public relations outfit, there was no need for it to have contracted the services of an advertising agency to buy media space for them. A direct consequence of the PR outfit?s delegation of its responsibility is that it cannot give details on the exact work done, the Committee said, hence the recommendation that the advertising agency refund to the government the 15 percent charge they levied for their advert placing activities, as well as the accruing interest.

Meanwhile, the PAC has also directed that the disbursement offices of the Tourism Ministry be surcharged for $2500 it reportedly paid to one Kojo Poku as consultancy fee for the provision of an information management system because the work was not done. Also, documents covering the said contract cannot be traced. Answering questions from Committee members, Chief Director Bridget Kastiriku indicated that the Ministry cannot trace the documents because it lacks proper record keeping systems.

The Ministry is also to ensure that an amount of ?4.2m paid as salary to a senior secretary who had taken study leave without pay be also paid back into government coffers. In a related development, the PAC has set up a sub committee to investigate the Tourism Ministry and make available documents covering an amount of ?2bn that was paid to Sunrise Company Limited for a mosquito spraying excise it undertook at Labadi beach and its environs in 2004. The Tourism Ministry has also been tasked to produce receipts covering about two billion cedis which cannot be accounted for. The Ministry is to provide evidence on how the money was spent between 2002 and 2005. This follows an appeal by the Chief Director and the Minister asked for time to be able to contact all their agencies in the regions who received various sums for various activities.

Parliament?s Public Accounts Committee will for the next two weeks, during public hearings, consider the Reports of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana for the years ended 31st December 2004 and 2005 for Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Central Government. The Ministry of Road Transport will be in the spotlight today.