Government paid GHS95 million for a waste management contract it does not have – Audit report
Auditor-General recommends that government retrieves GHS95 million paid to a waste management company without contract
Reports from the Auditor-General’s Department indicates that the government paid an amount of GHS95 million cedis to a waste management company without any contract supporting it. The government is thus asked to recover the said amount which belongs to the District Assembly Common Fund.
Findings further show that the money was paid to a company called Sewerage Systems GH Ltd, a member of the Jospong group, as part of cash support for Lavender Hill and Mudor Facility, the Accra Waste Treatment Plant.
However, the Administrator of the District Assembly Common Fund paid GHS19 million to Sewerage Systems Ghana Ltd in 2019 as the outstanding amount for the GHS95 million.
“The payment was only supported by a letter from the Office of the President referenced OP/ CA.7/ V.3 of 15 June 2016, which indicated that “the intention of Cabinet was to provide a credit guarantee for the completion of the Accra Waste Treatment Plant, Mudor Faecal and the old “Lavender Hill”,” a report by the Auditor General’s department noted.
It added that there was no basis for the payment “as support to a Private entity with no government ownership.”
“We were also of the view that Article 252(3) of the 1992 Constitution does not permit the allocation of the Common Fund to private entities and would be a loss to the Assemblies if not recovered,” the report added.
A review of the transaction from its inception was done by the Auditor-General and noted that the letter from the office of the President stated that the motive of Cabinet was a credit guarantee for the completion of the projects.
The payments commenced in 2016 with an annual provision in the Approved Formula but the then Administrator did not obtain any contractual documentation to support funding to a Private Entity or enter into any legally binding arrangement to recover the support made to Sewerage Systems GH. Ltd.
By: Stella Annan | myactiveonline.com Twitter @activetvgh
