PURC blows almost GHc100,000 on Christmas hampers
The
Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), has been indicted in the Auditor
General’s report for blowing GHc99, 663 on the distribution of Christmas
hampers.
According
to the report, the amount was expended on such items “during the 2012 Christmas
and New Year break.”
“We
observed that the amount of GHc99, 663 for the purchase of the hampers was not
retired or adjusted to the personal advance account of the imprest holder,
instead the entire amount was expended at the end of the year in violation of
the provisions of FAR 288. This was due to the absence of a mechanism in place
to ensure that such advances were retired promptly,” the report added.
The Auditor General further
recommended that “management should put in place mechanism to ensure that
advances are retired promptly.”
It
is common practice in Ghana for individuals and companies to distribute hampers
loaded with gifts to their friends, business associates, customers and people
in authority during the festive season.
Critics
say such profligate expenditures overburden the national purse especially when
the country’s economy has been struggling.
The
late President John Atta Mills in 2009, ordered the various ministries to
desist from using state resources to purchase such Christmas hampers and gifts,
something he believed contributed to the high levels of corruption.
President
John Dramani Mahama also in 2013 further extended
the directive to cover departments and agencies.
A
letter from the Presidency asked the MDAs to ensure strict compliance with the
directive at all levels of government, adding that “Heads of MDAs which flout
the directive would be surcharged with the cost of same to serve as a deterrent
to others.”
The
recipients of the PURC hampers are not yet known, neither is the company that
made them.
PURC blows almost GHc100,000 on Christmas hampers
Wednesday 16th March , 2016 11:23 am
A hamper
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The
Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), has been indicted in the
Auditor General’s report for blowing GHc99, 663 on the distribution of
Christmas hampers.
According to the report, the amount was expended on such items “during the 2012 Christmas and New Year break.”
“We observed that the amount of GHc99,
663 for the purchase of the hampers was not retired or adjusted to the
personal advance account of the imprest holder, instead the entire
amount was expended at the end of the year in violation of the
provisions of FAR 288. This was due to the absence of a mechanism in
place to ensure that such advances were retired promptly,” the report
added.
Related Story
It is common practice in Ghana for
individuals and companies to distribute hampers loaded with gifts to
their friends, business associates, customers and people in authority
during the festive season.
Critics say such profligate expenditures
overburden the national purse especially when the country’s economy has
been struggling.
The late President John Atta Mills in
2009, ordered the various ministries to desist from using state
resources to purchase such Christmas hampers and gifts, something he
believed contributed to the high levels of corruption.
President John Dramani Mahama also in 2013 further extended the directive to cover departments and agencies.
A letter from the Presidency asked the
MDAs to ensure strict compliance with the directive at all levels of
government, adding that “Heads of MDAs which flout the directive would
be surcharged with the cost of same to serve as a deterrent to others.”
The recipients of the PURC hampers are not yet known, neither is the company that made them.
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