Chairman of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) says the fired Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Public Procurement Authority (PPA) should have been banned from public office for life.

James Klutse Avedzi although the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) recommendation for Adjenim Boateng Adjei to be sacked, the five-year ban for not holding a public office is not deterrent enough.

Nonetheless, he commended President Akufo-Addo for adhering to the recommendation of CHRAJ to sack Mr Adjei.  

“I am wondering, why five years? Why should he even come back to public service at all? But it was recommended that he is sacked and he has been sacked, so it is a good beginning but I do not think that after five years, he should come back and serve the nation.

“To me, he has to stay in the private sector, he doesn’t need to come back to public businesses. Because, who knows, he might come back and repeat it again or probably do it in a different form now that he has learnt his lessons,” he stated.

The Ketu North MP also called for the State to go after the former PPA boss’ finances and recover all the monies he earned by using office for his own personal gain.

“Definitely he sold some of the contract and made some money and so if findings reveal the amount of money he made out of the back deals he undertook, the money needs to be confiscated by the State.

“So if the money is state money that he took, he should be surcharged with interest. But in his case, we won’t say he took State money, but he used a public office to extort money from individuals so that money needs to be confiscated for the State,” he explained.

The former PPA boss was on Friday, October 30 dismissed by President Akufo-Addo after CHRAJ ruled that he was unfit to hold Public Office.

The former PPA Boss was busted in a documentary by investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni for alleged sale of government contracts.

CHRAJ during its probe investigated claims of whether or not Mr Adjei had improperly used his office for personal gain.

It found that there were many instances where Mr Adjei failed to disclose his private capacity interest or recuse himself when the Board was considering applications for restricted tender where TDL had been listed.