The Auditor-General has recommended that an embargo be placed on the allowances of deceased pensioners.

This follows the revelation that more than GH¢236, 000 were wrongfully withdrawn by relatives of deceased pensioners.

The A-G, Daniel Domelevo in his report noted that, the disbursement of monies to the accounts of the deceased pensioners is birthed from the failure of the relatives of the deceased notify the Municipal Treasury Departments of their passing.

His report has recommended that the Treasury Officer liaises with the banks where these monies were withdrawn, to locate the said relatives for them to refund the cash.

The final recommendation to the Principal Treasury Officer is to place an embargo on the deceased pensioners’ allowances while he liaises with the Controller and Accountant-General, to delete their names from the payroll.

What else did the report say?

The A-G’s report also revealed several financial irregularities in the running of the Ghana School Feeding Programme.

It said the irregularities have led to huge financial losses to the with 81 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) and the management of the programme blamed for the mismanagement.

Irregularities in school feeding programme - Auditor General’s Report

Bloated enrolment figures, duplication of schools and payments of grants to non-existent caterers in the 2017-2018 academic year, as well as under-declaration of revenue from the sale of application forms, according to the A-G, account for the huge losses running into millions of cedis.

The report accuses the 81 MMDAs of declaring only GH¢194,383.00 from an amount of GH¢1.09 million purportedly realised from the sale of 21,880 application forms sold to caterers who applied for contracts.

As much as GH¢899,617 from the sale of application forms is unaccounted for and has been outstanding since 2017.