The Deputy Ranking Member on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and MP for Keta, Kwami Dzudzorli Gakpey, has called for the prosecution of civil servants implicated in the Auditor-General’s Report for embezzling public funds, insisting that refunds alone are not enough to deter corruption.
His remarks follow the case of Kafui Kpokpo, a former accounting officer at Ghana’s Mission in the Czech Republic, who refunded €31,600 after being cited for financial misconduct.
Speaking to Channel One News, Gakpey argued that allowing offenders to return stolen money without facing legal consequences only encourages further wrongdoing.
“Time and time again, you see that corruption is alluded to politicians. But the civil servants and the public service people are embezzling a lot of money in this country, and then what do you do? That they should refund the money.
“When the person refunds the money, how does it serve as a deterrent to others? People can have that locus that, at the end of the day, when I embezzle money, they will ask me to refund. In my personal view, they must be cited for prosecution,” he said.
Meanwhile, PAC Chairperson Abena Osei-Asare warned that agencies that fail to provide supporting documents for expenditures flagged in the Auditor-General’s Report would be held personally liable.
“There was an agency that refused to give supporting evidence to the tune of GHS175,000. Way after the Auditor-General has presented their report, that was when they submitted those documents, and we invoked the protocol that was established by the previous Public Accounts Committee, and so the agency is liable to pay the GHS175,000,” she said.
