Financial Irregularities In Assemblies: Part Six
Twifo Atti Morkwa Assembly Made Payment of ¢382,950.00 Without Contract Signed
The Twifo-Ati Morkwa District with its capital Twifo Praso is one of the 260 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana and forms part of the 22 MMDAs in the Central Region. In 2012, government split the Twifo Hemang Lower Denkyira District into two districts namely; Twifo Atti Morkwa District and Hemang lower Denkyira District under the Local Government Act 462 of 1992 by LI 2023.It is bounded on the north by the Upper Denkyira East Municipal on the south by the Abura Asebu Kwamankese District, Cape Coast Metropolitan and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipalon the west by the Mpohor District and the east by the Assin Central Municipal and Assin South District respectively.
The population of the District according to 2010 population and housing census stands at 61,743 with 30,254 male and 31,489 female.
According to the auditor general's 2018 Report, the district has made a payment sum of 382,850.00 with No contract agreement signed.
Regulation 39 of Financial Administration Regulation (FAR) 2014 (L.1 1802) provides that the head of accounts section of a department shall control the disbursement of funds and ensures that transactions are properly autheticated to show that amount are due and payable.
However, our review of the release letters from the administration of the common fund for the period between 2017 and 2018 disclosed that a total of ¢382,950.00 was deducted at source from Twifo Atti Morkwa District Assembly's share of District Assembly's common fund (DACF) allocated for sanitation Improvement Package (SIP) in favour of zoomlion Ghana limited.
We further noted that there was No signed service contract agreement between the two parties neither certification of work done prepared by District Environment Health Officer.
Below are the payments.
From 2016-2018
YEAR. AMOUNTS
• 2016. -----------------¢170,200.00
• 2017. -----------------¢170,200.00
• 2018. ------------------¢42,550.00
: TOTAL=========¢382,850.00
In absence of contract agreement between the two parties, we could not verify the terms conditions and deliverables of the engagement such as locations of work to be done, number of personnel to be engaged, number of times services were to be provided etc.
we could therefore not authenticate the payment made to zoomlion Ghana limited thereby resulting in a lose of ¢382,850.00 to the Assembly.
In conclusion, the auditor general has recommended that, the Assembly should formalize the contract agreement between the Assembly and zoomlion Ghana limited and seek refund of the amount of¢382,950.00 from zoomlion Ghana limited being payments made for no work done.
more to come, stay tuned for your Assembly.
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