Members of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee were livid at Wednesday’s hearing after the Council of State of Ghana appeared before the committee late, explaining that their delay was due to attending to their newly appointed Executive Secretary.

Earlier in the morning, proceedings had ground to a halt for more than half an hour when the Chief Director of the Office of Government Machinery, Alhaji Abubakar Wayo, also arrived late.

The delays left the committee visibly frustrated, as Chairperson Abena Owusu Asare expressed strong displeasure at the conduct of the officials. She criticised both the Chief Director and the Deputy Chief of Staff at the Presidency for failing to take the committee’s work seriously.

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“Please take the Public Accounts Committee seriously! Dr. Wayo has been in this system for God knows when. You are supposed to appear here with your head – and the letter we wrote to you was very clear. Wherever he is, he has to come for us to continue with the proceedings. Because that is part of his mandate as a Chief Director.

When we take up roles, we live by them, and we discharge the mandate every time we are called upon to do that,” she exclaimed in frustration.

After waiting for over 30 minutes, the Chief Director, Alhaji Abubakar Wayo, appeared and explained that he had to attend to some other duties.

“I was to come with them but I asked that because there were a few things I had to tidy up in the office, they should take the lead.”

His explanation, however, did not sit well with the Chairperson of the Committee, Abena Osei Asare.

She retorted that “you know that nobody comes to the Public Accounts Committee without at least the head of the entity. But you asked them to go, for you to join us later. You have been in the public service for at least 27 years, and you should know that this is not the way to go.”

Council of State's Justification

When the Council of State also appeared later, their justification has been that they were attending to their newly appointed Executive Secretary.

“Honourable Chair, a new Acting Executive Secretary has been appointed to the Council of State and I needed to clear some issues with him before I leave.” The Head of Human Resource and Administration explained.

He apologized to the committee and promised not to repeat the same.