The government is yet to settle a debt of approximately GH¢1.5 million owed to the Oyibi Area Water and Sanitation Scheme and the Kintampo Water Supply System for water supplied under the COVID-19 free water intervention.
Under the intervention, introduced in the heat of the pandemic to, among other things, avert the spread of the virus, the public enjoyed free water supply, with the bills absorbed by the government.
At the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting in Accra yesterday, it came to light that at the Oyibi facility in the Greater Accra Region, a debt of GH¢607,369.65 was incurred between January 2020 and May 2021, but GH¢62,647.70 was paid, leaving a difference of GH¢544,721.95
For Kintampo in the Bono East Region, the debt was GH¢1,327,718.00 and the government settled GH¢345,079.99 remaining an arrears of GH¢982,638.01 which had since not been paid.
The PAC , therefore, asked the Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, Cecilia Dapaah, who appeared before the committee with management of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, to ensure that the Ministry of Finance clears the outstanding debt as soon as possible.
The unsettled debt was in the 2021 Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana – Ministries, Departments and other Agencies (MDAs) which was being deliberated upon by the Committee.
It was in connection with Regulation 32 of Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378) which states among others that, “the Principal Spending Officer of each covered entity shall take effective and appropriate steps to collect money due the covered entity.”
Aside from the debt under the free water intervention, the report also revealed that the government and customers owed Nkoranza Water System GH¢2,872,916.55 from April 2020 to March 2021 for water supply.
Citing weak and pragmatic efforts at revenue mobilisation and debt recovery policies as the causes of the uncollected debt, the report urged management to enhance their revenue mobilisation strategies.
Responding to queries from the Committee, Ms Dapaah said she was not aware of those debts, as to the best of her knowledge all vetted debts under the free water intervention had been paid.
“So far as I am concerned, I have no debt on my desk”, she said, explaining that the outstanding debt in the report could be part of those claims that had not been vetted yet.
She, however, promised to send a schedule officer to follow up on documents sent to the Ministry of Finance as advised by the committee, get the outstanding debts vetted, and also push for the payments to be made.
The Chairman of the PAC, Dr James Klutse Avedzi, expressed concern about the debt, given that they would hamper services being provided by the water supply institutions.
At the same sitting, the committee referred the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council to the Attorney-General’s Office for prosecution over non-competitive procurement contrary to Section 20 of the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914).
The report said the Coordinating Director failed to obtain three quotations from different sources in respect of procurements totalling GH¢319,641.60 and also paid GH¢242,118.09 for various procurements which were not captured in the 2020 approved procurement plan of the council.
BY JONATHAN DONKOR
