Ghana: PAC Pushes for Sewfi – Wiawso College of Education Principal’s Prosecution …Over Gh¢276,872 Procurement Breaches

The Principal of Sefwi-Wiaso College of Education in the Western Region, Dr Emmanuel Carsarmmer, has been referred to the Attorney-General Department for prosecution on alleged procurement breaches.

The College of Education had procured goods and services amounting to GH¢276,872 without going through the procurement process, which was in violation of the Public Procurement Act.

The Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Dr James Klutse Avedzi, announced this at PAC hearing at Sunyani, in the Bono Region, yesterday.

Yesterday’s sitting by PAC was to attend to infractions committed by the Technical Universities and Colleges of Education as captured in the 2021 Auditor General’s report.

It was also to ascertain whether entities covered by the Auditor General’s report have responded to its recommendations and that of the committee.

Dr Avedzi said Auditor General recommended that Dr Carsammer should be referred to the Attorney-General for prosecution.

The PAC chairman said the committee was working hard to ensure that all arrears of the past Auditor General’s report was attended to, and urged state agencies and entities to comply with the financial laws of country.

Some of the issues that came up yesterday, were unsupported payments, failure to collect rent and procurement breaches among others.

In a related development, Dr Avedzi said the PAC would consider inviting the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), National Accreditation Board (NAB) and the universities to a meeting, to unravel the difficulties surrounding the award of accreditation to tertiary institutions regarding programmes and courses they run in the country.

He expressed worry over the situation where some tertiary institutions in the country were running programmes without accreditation or have had their accreditations expired.

The committee was of the view that Ghana’s image in respect of tertiary education was at stake and the phenomenon should be addressed.

It has emerged that 32 tertiary programmes being run by the Kumasi Technical University, 16 had not been accredited.

The Vice Chancellor of Kumasi Technical University, Professor Gabriel Dwumor was asked whether it was possible for students to be awarded certificates for unaccredited programmes.

He said that it was possible, indicating that accreditation “goes through a process before it takes place and once those programmes finally get accredited, it affect the certificates that have been awarded.”

But, Dr Clement Apaak, PAC member, disagreed with the explanation given by the vice chancellor, and blamed the university for its failure to have the issue resolved.

According to Dr Apaak, who is MP for Bulsa South, most universities in the country facing similar challenges did not attach much seriousness to the matter.

He however, suggested that universities in the country created a unit or department to sorely attend to accreditation issues.

Another PAC member, who is MP for Tamale Central, Murtala Mohammed, wondered why accreditation by GTEC and NAB was not automatic.

He expressed worry that institutions had to apply for accreditation periodically.