PAC orders CAGD Director to pay over GH¢32k for failing to recover unearned pensions

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has ordered the Western Regional Director of the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) to refund an amount of GH¢32,620 with interest to the state for failing to recover the said amount after overpaying pension gratuity to a retired fire officer.

In 2017, Elijah Ankrah, a Station Officer 1 of the fire service, was paid GH¢66,337 instead of GH¢33,716 following his voluntary retirement.

The Chairman of the committee, James Klutse Avedzi, during a sitting in Accra on Monday, January 29, said, “If you read the recommendation, paragraph 113 of the report, the auditors say that we recommended that the Controller and Accountant General should ensure that the regional director recovers the amount with interest at the BoG prevailing rates from Mr. Elijah Ankrah, failing which the amount should be recovered from the regional director. Now the regional director has failed to recover the money from Mr. Elijah Ankrah.”

“So this committee is upholding the recommendation of the Auditor General that the regional director for the Western Region Controller and Accountant General should refund because he failed to recover the money from Mr. Ankrah, the GH¢32,620.85 with interest at the prevailing BoG rates.”