Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has condemned the wasteful use of huge funds by the Minerals Commission on frivolous activities. According to the 2011 Auditor General's report, the Minerals Commission spent GH¢ 1.2 million on conferences, seminars and workshop whiles almost GH¢ 400,000 was spent on entertaining Board Members. Responding to queries on the wasteful expenditure by the Commission at Tuesday's PAC sitting, Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, Benjamin Aryee said the money spent on entertainment for Board Members, for instance, was to facilitate their work. "We [Minerals Commission] have a number of external multi-stakeholder Committees for processing licenses, reviewing applications et cetera, so all those refreshments as well as allowances paid to them are captured", Mr Aryee told PAC. But Ranking Member on the Public Accounts Committee, Ibrahim Dey Abubakari, said the explanations offered by Mr Aryee were not tenable. "You have a certain figure for 'Board Expenses', you have a separate figure for 'Board Allowances'...and you are now telling us that there are other expenses on the Board which are not even included in these two", asked Alhaji Abubakari. "You are trying to...hide the actual expenditure on the Board", he told Mr Aryee. The Minerals Commission, established under Article 269 of the 1992 Constitution and the Minerals Commission Act 1993 (Act 450), is the main promotional and regulatory body for the minerals sector in Ghana. The Commission is responsible for the coordination and implementation of policies relating to mining in the country. It also ensures compliance with Ghana's Mining and Mineral Laws and Regulation through monitoring.