GYEEDA overshot budget in 2012 but Deputy Minister says was done to avoid judgement debt

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament yesterday criticised the Ministry of Finance for releasing GH¢199 million to the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA) in 2012. 

 The amount was about 2,000 per cent above the agency's budget of GH¢20 million for that year.

The GH¢199 million was for payment to some companies for services rendered to GYEEDA and to some beneficiaries of the agency.

The committee wondered why the Internal Audit Department of the Ministry of Finance did not institute an enquiry into the over-commitment before payment.

It said the officers at the Ministry of Finance who condoned the release of the GH¢199 million to GYEEDA should have been sanctioned.

The release of the GH¢199 million by the Ministry of Finance to GYEEDA through the Ministry of Youth and Sports was captured in the 2013 Auditor General's Report.

In the report, the Auditor General wondered why the GH¢199 million was not captured in the supplementary budget of the Ministry of Finance.

Finance Ministry's response

Defending the release of the GH¢199 million, a Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Cassiel Ato Forson, told the PAC that GYEEDA requested the money to pay Zeera Group of Companies, Ghana Management Limited and Asongtaba Cottage Industries for services rendered to the agency. It was also for payment to GYEEDA beneficiaries.

He said the ministry released the money to GYEEDA to avoid attracting higher interests on the money or running into judgement debts in case of a default.

Mr Forson said the Minister of Finance controlled the contingency vault and it was his discretion to use it to make the release.

He said the Minister of Finance relied on the integrity of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the then mother ministry of GYEEDA, in releasing the GH¢199 million.

"If we were to delay payment, we would pay more interest on delayed payment. It was the minister's discretion to use the contingency vault and he had used it," he said.

Commitment certificate

Mr Forson said the Ministry of Finance now insisted on commitment certificates from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) before such payment was made.

"We now have a handle on commitment. The MDAs can't sign a contract and bring it forward for payment," he said.