The municipal director of education and his accountant
The Education Director for the Drobo Municipality, John Kwame Gasu, has been ordered by the Public Accountants Committee (PAC) of Parliament to pay back an amount of GH¢12,608.
The said amount was the cost of a supposed overhauling that was done on one of the vehicles at the municipality, but which has been determined to have been fictitious
The amount to be paid back was slapped on the director together with his municipal accountant, John Koku Brenya.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee Sitting on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, the director, John Gasu, and his accountant were questioned on why they did not present the necessary documents to the auditors when they came to do their work in their municipality.
In response to the questions asked, the municipal director explained that there was no fictitious activity carried out in the matter.
He told the PAC sitting that what happened was that the accountant in the municipality at the time was the one who presented wrong details to the auditors.
“The activity wasn’t fictitious. The work was done on the vehicle and that’s what the accountant has indicated earlier. During the processing of the document, a wrong attachment was presented to the auditors.
“Later on, we realised that it was a wrong attachment and they requested that we go and look for the required documents for attachment and we forwarded it to them and they have even indicated that they have also forwarded to their auditors in Accra.
“So, the activity wasn’t a fictitious one; our old pickup was there and it was overhauled and all the expenditure that occurred was genuine, but it was the accountant who did a wrong attachment,” he told the sitting.
Asked what the name of the mechanic who worked on the document was, the Municipal Director of Education for Drobo, John Kwame Gasu, and his current accountant, Francis Brenya – who had accompanied him, gave contradicting answers.
While the accountant mentioned Powerful Mechanic as the name of the mechanic in question, the director mentioned the name of one Samson as being the one.
Surprised at the contradicting answers, the Member of Parliament for Ahafo Ano South West, Johnson Kwaku Adu, sought clarity from them.
The director responded by stating that:
“That is what we are saying that the right name of the mechanic who worked on the vehicle is Samson but during the time of the activity, he went for a receipt from (sic), so the right documents have been presented.”
But the MP referred to matter to the auditors present to tell the sitting what exactly happened.
“Honorable chair, at the time of the audit, Unique Sam Enterprise were made to know that he did the work. So, we did a follow up to Unique Sam Enterprise and it came out that they had not worked on the said vehicle so that is what we reported.
“Then later on, they brought a receipt from Christ The King Enterprise and Powerful Machine Enterprise i.e. the Christ The King from Drobo amounting to six thousand, eight hundred and one one point five zero, then the Powerful Mechanic Workshop, Sunyani, amounting to five thousand, one hundred and sixty-eighty point one zero,” the auditor said.
But the director, John Gasu, still came back fighting hard after he was asked by the Chairman of PAC, James Klutse Avedzi, where the supposed former accountant for the municipality was.
In response, John Gasu informed the sitting that this accountant had been transferred to the Kintampo North Municpal Education Directorate, and made other arguments to the Committee but failed to convince them.
Unconvinced about proceedings up to this point, the PAC Chairman, James Avedzi ordered that the amount of GH¢12,608 be paid by the accountant, together with the director.
In the meantime, watch the latest episode of #SayItLoud on GhanaWeb TV with Etsey Atisu below:
The municipal director of education and his accountant
