Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday confronted officials from the Ministry of Energy and Green Transition over the resubmission of GH¢3.217 billion in claims that had already been settled by the Ministry of Finance, the latest development in the ongoing scrutiny of Ghana’s GH¢68.7 billion arrears audit.
The ministry was cited for repeating the amount in its claims and commitments, covering funds that had already been paid, a finding captured in the Auditor-General’s report amid heightened scrutiny following the recent rejection of several payables.
Deputy Minister for Energy and Green Transition Richard Gyan-Mensah explained that the duplication occurred because the Energy Ministry had not been notified when the Ministry of Finance made the earlier payment, leading to the repeated inclusion of the claim. He described the irregularity as an inadvertent error and said the discrepancy had since been resolved in collaboration with the Finance Ministry.
The explanation drew a sharp response from the committee. Member of Parliament for Manhyia North, Akwasi Konadu, criticised the response, stressing that it is the responsibility of the Ministry to proactively verify the status of its claims before submitting them rather than rely on notification from another ministry to detect duplications.
The hearing forms part of PAC’s broader probe into the Auditor-General’s special audit report, which reviewed GH¢68.7 billion in Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs), invoices, and Bank Transfer Advices (BTAs) submitted to the Ministry of Finance as unpaid obligations. Among the wider findings, auditors identified GH¢4.4 billion in claims that had already been paid between 2020 and 2024 and were being fraudulently resubmitted for payment, with the Ministry of Roads and Highways accounting for GH¢3.6 billion of that total, followed by the Ministry of Health at GH¢384.8 million and the Ministry of Energy at GH¢216.7 million in recycled claims.
PAC member Konadu separately assured the public that the committee will conduct a thorough examination of the full audit report and that individuals mentioned will be given the opportunity to either confirm the issues raised or clear their names.
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament directed the committee to conclude its investigation within three weeks of the report’s referral on March 10.
