A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing took an unexpected turn when a teacher, Emmanuel Samson, confessed to spending GH₵15,000 of an unearned salary, sparking laughter from the committee members.
Samson, a Principal Superintendent with the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Gomoa West District, revealed that he knowingly received an overpayment of GH₵46,735.09, despite being entitled to only GH₵30,763.71 for his service from October 2017 to October 2019.
Samson explained that he spent part of the money before detecting the anomaly.
“I spent the extra GH₵15,000 before realizing the overpayment,” Samson admitted.
Despite making two initial payments to repay, Samson faced financial difficulties in completing the refund.
At the committee hearing, he pledged to repay the remaining balance using an investment worth GH₵18,000.
PAC Chairman James Klutse Avedzi urged Samson to retrieve his investment and complete the repayment at the prevailing Bank of Ghana rates by the end of the month.
“The instruction is that at the end of the month, go for your investment, go and clear all the balance, all that is left is for you,” Avedzi said.
Samson replied, “Yes, I have heard you boss.”
Avedzi added, “Don’t go for the investment and come back and say there is another problem so you can’t. Make sure you pay. If you don’t, we will ask the auditors to take full action because what you did is actually criminal, but we will leave that aspect. We will allow you to go for the investment and pay the money.”
The PAC is tasked with scrutinizing the accounts of public institutions, and such cases of financial discrepancies often come under its review.