Policy analyst wants act to regulate travels of state officials

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation, Ghana (ILAPI Ghana), Mr. Peter Bismark has called for the enactment of a Government Travel Regulations Act (GTRA) to regulate the travelling of state officials.

The Act, he said, should establish units in all Government institutions and agencies such that public officials travelling on taxes would be placed on a common platform for travel claims under administrative procedures prescribed by the Act.

Mr Bismark who made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) said such a common platform should be an E-Government Travel Service.

He stressed the need for all state institutions and agencies to have Travel Management Services to provide for travel arrangements.

With the Act in place, Mr Bismark believed that the public purse would be adequately protected because Government officials would be liable for any expenditure that was caused by negligence.

He explained that Government officials without an approved exception under the Act would be responsible for any additional costs resulting from the failure to use the E-Government Travel Service such as service fees, cancellation penalties, or other additional costs like higher airfares, hotel rates, shuttle, feeding among others.

According to the Policy Analyst, the Travel Management Divisions which would be created under the Act would provide data on total travels made by Government officials in a year and expose those who fed on taxpayers' contributions.

He contended that so much money was being wasted through Government delegation travels and called on Parliament to rescue the situation with the Act to regulate official state travels.