By Gifty Boateng
President John Dramani Mahama has called for an expedited punitive framework to deal with public officials implicated in the Auditor-General’s annual report, describing the scale of financial misconduct as “pathetic” and warning that without swift justice, the cycle of impunity will persist.
Speaking ahead of a closed-door meeting with the Acting Chief Justice, the Auditor-General, and the Attorney-General on 9 October, Mahama proposed a fast-track judicial mechanism to prosecute and imprison officials found guilty of misappropriating public funds.
“Until there’s deterrence, we’ll keep returning to the Public Accounts Committee every year to hear that GHS15 billion has vanished,” he said.
The President’s remarks follow revelations at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting that Tamale Teaching Hospital paid salaries totaling GHS1.449 million to a deceased staff member over 26 months.
Mahama lamented that such infractions, if unchecked, undermine national development and erode public trust.
Mahama criticized the ineffectiveness of Audit Report Implementation Committees (ARICs), which are mandated to enforce PAC recommendations. “Virtually nobody follows up,” he said, adding that the constitutional provision requiring Parliament to establish a committee to implement Auditor-General findings remains unfulfilled.
The President’s intervention signals a shift toward executive-led accountability, with plans to overhaul the current system and impose real consequences for financial recklessness.
PAC Chair Abena Osei Asare and Ranking Member Samuel Atta-Mills have led a series of hearings exposing widespread lapses in financial validation across public hospitals.
In Tamale, Director of Administration Dr. Emmanuel Sena Kwasi Donkor admitted that only GHS303,558 just 21% of the unearned salary had been recovered.
He appealed for parliamentary orders to compel banks to return the remaining funds and confirmed that EOCO is investigating the implicated individuals.
Atta-Mills was unsparing: “Habib Napare died in 2022. Didn’t you attend the funeral? And yet you validated his salary for 26 months?”
At a separate PAC sitting, the Acting CEO of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr. Yakubu Seidu Adam, was directed to refund GHS113,000 to the state. The amount stems from two judgment debts one involving a fatal overdose and another a burial mix-up. Dr. Adam admitted the hospital had failed to recover the funds from negligent officers.
“You have 90 days to pay,” Atta-Mills declared, underscoring PAC’s resolve to enforce accountability.
The PAC’s findings have reignited debate over Ghana’s institutional capacity to safeguard public funds. With Mahama pushing for a prosecutorial overhaul and Parliament under pressure to act, the coming weeks may determine whether Ghana’s anti-corruption architecture can evolve from reactive hearings to proactive enforcement.
For now, the President’s message is clear: the era of impunity must end and the road to Nsawam must be swift.