The Committee for Joint Action, CJA, has chided government over what it says is “general confusion, lack of probity and transparency” in the administration of public accounts. The committee cites the 2007 Auditor General’s report as basis for their accusations. According to the report, part of which was highlighted by Kwesi Pratt, spokesperson of the CJA in an interview with Joy News, government has under-declared proceeds from donor partners. An amount of 2.8 billion old Ghana cedis was captured in the public accounts instead of a total of 2.95,000 trillion old Ghana cedis from donor partners in the year under review. According to the report, 3 trillion old Ghana cedis was appropriated only on foreign travels; an amount Kwesi Pratt insists could have gone into the provision of education and health care. He noted funds deducted from the workers of Trades Union Congress, and the Ghana National Association of Teachers for items bought on credit were not given the appropriate creditors in full. He described as "criminal", the handling of the public accounts and called on the electorates to vote out the NPP, because it has failed in handling public finance. He dismissed assertions that the CJA is embarking on the crusade to make the ruling government unpopular saying “If these figures are cooked up, they are cooked up by the Auditor General who was appointed by the government.” However, government spokesperson on finance Kweku Kwarteng says the CJA’s interpretation smacks of a lack of understanding of the report. He said the anomaly was as a result of separate records kept by the ministry of finance and the Controller and Accountant General's Department and not an under declaration of funds as the CJA would want to have the public believe. “In the case of foreign proceeds, the amount is captured in the Ministry of Finance and presented within the records of Ministry of finance, the disparity the Auditor General is referring to is when the Controller is preparing the national accounts the reflection of the figures does not tally with what the ministry of finance has already declared in public”. He said if the figures presented by the ministry of finance is lower than what was actually received that is when the CJA would have been right in its accusation. Even though he concedes there is an irregularity between deductions from workers salary and payments made to creditors, he maintains, that did not amount to undermining of the various institutions. Story by Nathan Gadugah