You are not the only lawyer in Ghana – PAC chairman jabs Afenyo-Markin

The Chairman of the Public Account Committee (PAC) of Parliament, James Klutse Avedzi, has responded to the Member of Parliament (MP) for Effutu constituency, Alexander Kwamina Afenyo-Markin’s over claims that the committee is setting a bad precedent.

The Member of Parliament, who is also a member of the PAC, cautioned the committee to thread cautiously after it ordered for the arrest of two civil servants who appeared before the committee over financial malfeasance.

According to Afenyo-Markin, although the zeal to fight corruption requires the support of all and especially parliamentarians, rules and due process must be followed.

“The chairman is zealous. He wants to do the right thing but the rules must be followed, I the committee feels offended by the conduct of a person before it, the committee must complain, ordering the arrest of an individual is an abuse of the people rights, this is a bad precedent” he argued.

Reacting to Mr. Markin’s claim, the Chairman of PAC, Klutse Avedzi said ‘He is not the only lawyer in Ghana but I don’t blame him…….He has being absent from committee meetings  and that is why he is the only person opposing the decision by the committee” he said on Citinewsroom monitored theghanareport.com

Background

Two persons; Isaac Akowaah, a former District Finance Officer and James Esilfie, the current District Finance Officer of the Sefwi Akontombra Assembly in the then Western Region were accused of conniving to lie to the committee over irregularities cited in the report when they appeared before the committee on Monday.

After the first meeting officials from the assembly last week, PAC raised questions about some 62 payment vouchers that could not be accounted for.

After further enquiries, PAC could only trace nine of the payment vouchers.

During that meeting, the assembly was asked to recall the former District Finance Officer, who had been transferred outside the district, to reappear on Monday and explain the absence of the vouchers.

After checks with the auditors, following Isaac Akowaah’s testimony, the committee felt that the accounts being given were not adding up which made Mr James Klutse Avedzi, PAC chairman, to order the arrests.