In order to safeguard the already battered image of the Judicial Service of Ghana, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday decided to sit in camera to consider the Service’s financial malfeasance in the Auditor General’s report for 2011, 2012 and 2013, which some of the Committee members described as stinking and mind-boggling.
The chairman of the committee, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, after the in-camera sitting, told the media that the Committee decided to sit in camera following the expose by Anas Aremeyaw Anas concerning the rot in the Judicial Service and that it was not prudent to further destroy its image.
According to him, there was complete systemic failure on the part of the Service to ensure that the right thing was done.
He said the right accounting officers were not engaged by the Service and that until recently there was no accounting function at the Judicial Service.
He said in some cases cashiers were made to do accounting and that resulted in serious infractions.
“Basic accounting books for accounting were not there to be audited,” the Chairman posited.
He said the Judicial Service was then advised to engage a consultant to rewrite their books for auditing.
“Interestingly, the new accountants have come out with a lot of innovative systems to run,” he observed.
Chairman Agyeman-Manu indicated that in some instances there were serious cases of unearned salaries by some staff of the Service.
He pointed out that the Committee would take a serious look at the infractions and make the necessary recommendations to parliament and the executive.
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