Kobina Ata-Bedu, Management Consultant and Procurement Specialist, has criticised the recently passed Value for Money Office Bill 2026, describing it as “useless” and likely to create confusion in public financial management.

He made the remarks during the JoyNews Newsfile programme on Saturday, March 28.

“The bottom line is that this is a useless Act that is only going to create confusion because the obligations and responsibilities are already enshrined in several laws, and all we have to do is to make them work,” Ata-Bedu said.

“When they are not working, all those laws have clauses in them for contraventions and penalties.”

The Bill, which was passed in Parliament earlier this year, establishes an independent Value for Money Office intended to strengthen oversight of public spending and procurement.

Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson described it as a mechanism to address inefficiencies, cost overruns, abandoned projects, and wasteful spending across government institutions.

Ata-Bedu warned that, despite its intentions, the new framework risks duplication of existing provisions, potentially overlapping with other oversight mechanisms and complicating enforcement rather than improving accountability.

He urged that attention be focused on effectively implementing existing laws before creating new institutions.