The Deputy Minister for Finance, Thomas Narko Ampem, has disclosed to Parliament that the Ghana Audit Service, in collaboration with EY and PwC, conducted an extensive verification exercise concerning GH¢68.7 billion in unpaid financial obligations.
This substantial figure, submitted to the Ministry of Finance, comprised Interim Payment Certificates (IPCs), invoices, and Bank Transfer Advices (BTAs) owed to various contractors and suppliers.
A detailed breakdown of these claims revealed that outstanding IPCs and invoices accounted for GH¢50.5 billion, while outstanding BTAs totalled GH¢18.3 billion.
The audit proved to be a critical intervention, as it led to the rejection of approximately GH¢1 billion in outstanding BTAs.
These specific invoices and IPCs had been processed by various ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) in 2024, approved by the Ministry of Finance, and submitted to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) pending payment.
This significant loss of public funds was only averted because the Ministry of Finance made the strategic decision to halt all such payments in January 2025.
Furthermore, the auditors rejected GH¢7.1 billion in outstanding IPCs and invoices that had been certified for payment by various public officers. The grounds for these rejections included a lack of supporting documentation, duplications, recycled invoices, overstatements, and instances where no actual work had been performed.
An additional GH¢13.3 billion remains unvalidated due to missing third-party confirmations and inadequate contract documentation.
Specific discrepancies were also identified within the One District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative. In 2024, the then Ministry of Trade and Industry requested GH¢89.4 million to be transferred to five commercial banks as the government’s contribution toward interest payments.
Although the Ministry of Finance processed this request, the subsequent audit revealed that every single bank involved denied the existence of any such debt under the arrangement.
The auditors subsequently classified this GH¢89.4 million debt as entirely fictitious. In a separate but related irregularity, a recorded payment of GH¢10.5 million was purportedly made into a “Buffer Account” at a commercial bank.
However, the bank confirmed that the account number did not exist and did not conform to its standard formatting.
Given that the government had already reportedly spent GH¢391 million on 1D1F interest subsidies by the end of 2024, these findings have prompted the announcement of a forthcoming forensic audit of the entire 1D1F scheme.
The audit similarly uncovered deeply concerning findings regarding 2024 expenditures related to dry spell relief.
While the Government of Ghana paid for 34,000MT of rice to mitigate the impact of the dry spell, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture only received and distributed 24,000MT, leaving 10,000MT unaccounted for despite full payment.
Discrepancies were even more pronounced regarding maize supplies; although the Ministry of Food and Agriculture submitted documentation claiming the delivery of 100,000MT of maize valued at GH¢771.2 million, the audit confirmed that only 11,900MT was actually supplied.
Notably, the initial stores’ receipt advice had been certified by the ministry’s own internal auditor.
Further financial mismanagement was identified in the transportation of grains under the Farmer Food Relief and Recovery Programme.
A transport company contracted to move 134,000 metric tonnes of maize and rice for GH¢115.2 million only actually transported 35,000 metric tonnes.
Despite the actual cost of this work being only GH¢30.9 million, the company was paid GH¢50 million in cash. In an extraordinary addition, the company received 7,311 metric tonnes of rice—valued at GH¢11.7 million—in lieu of cash for work that was never performed. This brought the total compensation to GH¢61.7 million. Consequently, the Auditor-General rejected a further request from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture for an additional GH¢65.2 million payment to the same firm.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
