The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC), has surcharged the Bolgatanga Technical University directing the institution to refund an amount of GH¢4,000 for underselling a water packaging machine.
The facility was purchased at the cost of GH¢10,000 10 years ago and later sold at GH¢6,000 cedis.
According to the committee, the action of the management of the university has caused financial loss to the state hence the need for them to pay the difference.
The University procured the machine to go into water production, however, the contractor who was charged to construct the building for the production site failed to honour the contract hence the inability of the university to make use of the machine.
This came up during the first day of hearing in Tamale by the committee to consider the 2020 Auditor General’s Report on Technical Universities, Reports on the Management and Utilisation of District Assemblies Common Fund and other Statutory Funds for the year ended December 31, 2020, in the Northern, North East, Upper East, Upper West and the Savanna Regions.
Asked by the committee if they adhered to the auditors’ recommendation to put the machine to use, a representative from the University said, “subsequent audits also indicated that we either put the machine in use or we dispose of it.
“We were having challenges in implementing it. We needed to construct a place to house the machine where we could produce the water from” he said.
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He noted that, “we awarded the facility to a contractor alongside renovation with one of our blocks. The contractor couldn’t get his statutory payment certificate. He felt frustrated and abandoned the projects. With our limited resources, we couldn’t complete the structure, so we decided to dispose it, taking into consideration how long it has been sitting there”.
The Committee said, “your negligence and improper planning have caused the state GH¢4,000. I want to surcharge you with GH¢4,000. It’s supposed to be more than that but let’s maintain it”.