Members of the Ghana and UK Parliament met in Accra from 9-11 November to discuss good practices and to strengthen public financial scrutiny.

Chairs of the Ghana Public Accounts and Finance Committees, Chair of the UK Public Accounts Committee and a senior UK Clerk took part in the programme.

It included sessions on how to make committees even more effective in how they oversee the spending of taxpayers’ money.

This is a follow-up to the visit by the Ghana Finance Committee to Westminster in September 2017 where they met with representatives of the Bank of England, the UK Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs.

This was arranged by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK (CPA UK).

The delegation from the UK Parliament is Meg Hillier MP and Chris Stanton, the Clerk of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee and former Clerk of the UK Treasury Committee.

The delegation leader and Chair of the UK Public Accounts Committee, Hillier said, “financial scrutiny and the oversight of public spending is a crucial part of ensuring a democracy is effective.

“I am delighted to work with the Chairs and Members of the Public Accounts and Finance Committees in the Parliament of Ghana to deliver this programme.”

Finance and Public Accounts Programme

The programme will include interactive discussions and practical exercises to increase the technical skills of new members of the committees and strengthen relations between the two parliaments.

Later this year Ghanaian Parliamentarians will also attend the Westminster Seminar on Parliamentary Practice and Procedure and the Westminster Workshop on Public Accounts Committees in London. 

This is to further increase their skills and knowledge which are also being run by CPA UK.