The Public Accounts Committee has recommended to the Auditor-General to conduct a special audit of the National Sports Authority.
The recommendation was made by the chair of the committee, James Clutse Avezdi, when NSA officials led by Director General Prof.
Peter Twumesi appeared before the committee to respond to the audit report about its activities.
The chair said it could not order the Auditor-General to conduct an audit of the NSA as enshrined in Article 187 (7) of the Constitution.
The NSA Director General, Professor Peter Twumasi, and the Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, appeared before PAC on Monday, February 5.
The NSA boss and the accountant could not explain why a directive was issued for the logging of over Ghc250,000 for non-sporting activities into different accounts when it should have been logged into the NSA’s central accounts with the Bank of Ghana.
It emerged that the NSA boss directed that part of the amount be logged into the regional account in Kumasi, a clear violation of the law.
The accountant affirmed that one part was logged in Accra and the other in Kumasi on the directive of the NSA boss.
This was after the MP for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel Nartey George, had consistently demanded answers.
When the NSA boss took his turn to respond to the questions, he claimed the central account with the Bank of Ghana was garnished, so they could not transfer the Ghc250,000 into it because they had to send it to the Kumasi account.
It was at this point that the chair recommended to the Auditor-General that he conduct a special audit of the NSA.
The Committee also issued a directive for the arrest of the Northern Regional Director of the National Sports Authority (NSA) due to the failure to deposit over GH¢160,000 in internally generated funds.
The 2022 Auditor General’s report highlights the Northern Regional Management of the Sports Authority for the expenditure of the funds, which violates the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019.
In 2023, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) secured a garnishment order to recover over GHC 15 million in taxes from the NSA.
The GRA sought legal action because the NSA has not paid withholding taxes since 2019.
The revenue authority wrote to the Bank of Ghana on November 14, 2023, informing it that it had secured a garnishment order for the recovery of tax liabilities from the NSA.
The NSA and Sports Ministry were notified on November 17, 2023, by the central bank through a letter that they had received a garnishment notice from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) for the recovery of tax liabilities of GHC 15,520, 645.78.
The BoG therefore withheld the “entire working balance” of the NSA, which totals GHC 109,791.21 from the authority FSPI project 2023 account, pending approval for final payment to the GRA.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana