By Benjamin Akoto
Sunyani, Sept. 06, GNA – Mr James Klutse Avedzi, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has reaffirmed the committee’s dedication to clear all outstanding reports of the Auditor-General.
Mr Avedzi acknowledged that there was a backlog of five to six years’ quantity of reports from the Auditor-General but indicated that the committee was determined to address that backlog by committing to clearing two reports every year to gradually address those backlogs of reports to eliminate the arrears.
He further explained when he assumed his role in 2017, the Committee was already behind by approximately five years in reviewing the reports and unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the situation, causing an additional year of delay due to the imposed restrictions.
Mr Avedzi was speaking in an interview with the media after the PAC’s first zonal sitting in Sunyani, which was to assess the response of audited entities to the 2021 Auditor-General’s report.
Touching on the reasons of the reports’ accumulation, Mr Avedzi explained that practice began at the inception of the first Parliament of the fourth republic in 1993 and continued until 2001, saying during that period, the PAC did not review the reports of the Auditor-General (AG), so the AG’s reports from 1992 to 2000 were left pending until the Committee commenced its work around 2001.
Mr Avedzi clarified that the nature of those reports compelled the committee to address only one year’s report per year, indicating that meant by the time the Committee completed its review of a particular year’s report, another year’s report had already been added to the backlog.
He therefore commended previous Committees for their diligent efforts in gradually clearing the reports.
Mr Avedzi said this was the second occasion in 2023 that the committee had convened a zonal sitting in Sunyani, saying the first instance involved the examination of the 2020 report and the current focus was on the 2021 report.
He emphasised the only outstanding report at present was that of 2022 and further indicated the Committee planned to commence its sitting, in January or February of 2024 with optimism to clear any report in arrears by the end of the following year.
GNA