PAC grills Central Regional Coordinating Council over GH¢14.9m payments processed outside GIFMIS

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) recently scrutinized the Central Regional Coordinating Council over a series of payment vouchers amounting to GH¢14.88 million that were processed outside the Ghana Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS). The Committee expressed concern that, if this breach reappeared in a future audit, it would be seen as proof that the council had failed to implement the corrective measures it had previously announced.

This issue was brought to light during the PAC's meeting on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, when they reviewed the Auditor-General's 2025 report on various Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.

According to the audit findings, the Central Regional Coordinating Council fell short in processing payment vouchers totaling GH¢14,882,540.98 through GIFMIS. A spokesperson from the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy, and Religious Affairs explained to the Committee that the transactions involved donor funds and were subsequently recorded through journal vouchers.

The spokesperson further stated that subsequent transactions had been processed through GIFMIS after the audit's observation was raised. This response led the Committee to question why the transactions were initially processed outside the system in the first place.

One Committee member questioned whether the donor-funded nature of the funds justified their exclusion from GIFMIS, emphasizing that donor funds are still considered public funds. The representative later clarified that the funds were part of the approved budget and that the donor components had been incorporated during the budget process.

The issue arose when the releases were made without the necessary budget code to process the transactions through GIFMIS. The spokesperson then raised journal vouchers to capture the transactions on the system and ensure accurate accounts reflecting the expenditure.

The Committee Chairperson, Abena Osei-Asare, reiterated the concern not only about the transactions already identified but also whether the system had been corrected in subsequent audits. She warned that if the same problem resurfaced in a future audit, the Committee would consider it evidence that the council had not implemented the corrective measures it claimed.

The Chairperson noted that the Committee would not tolerate repeated explanations for the same weaknesses and would require institutions to demonstrate the implementation of recommended changes and correction of weak systems. The Central Regional Coordinating Council representative maintained that subsequent transactions had been processed through GIFMIS, and journal vouchers had been used to document the earlier transactions that had bypassed the system.