Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, has encouraged members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to show bravery and resolve in making state officials answerable, including by using their lawful authority to place people in custody during hearings whenever that proves necessary.
He stated that the committee should not delay in penalising officials who commit wrongdoing, and that its supervisory duties deserve to be handled with the gravity they warrant.
Addressing the African Organisation of Public Accounts Committees Conference, Mr Bagbin recalled his time as a past member of the PAC, when he sometimes directed that certain persons be held in custody during proceedings in order to preserve order.
He maintained that the committee’s role is essential to guaranteeing that national resources are properly administered and put to work for the benefit of citizens. Mr Bagbin dared PAC members to be bold enough to inform public officials and those holding power when they are mistaken, and to go further by applying the law when required.
He clarified that the committee’s authority stems from the confidence citizens place in the government to manage the nation’s assets in their shared interest. In his view, PAC members are obliged to see that public officials use those assets for the good of everyone and answer for how they handled them. He urged members to carry out this duty faithfully, insisting that accountability in public service is not something to be negotiated.
Mr Bagbin told the members that they must possess the courage to say to those in power that they have erred, and to act beyond that. He explained that the law allows them, whenever there is misbehaviour at a hearing, to apply it and to send people into custody, which signals that the matter is serious. Those detained overnight, he said, behave properly when they return the following day.
He added that this is not an enterprise to be trifled with, since it is a grave matter and lies at the heart of governance. According to him, the mandate was entrusted to the members because, as representatives, they require everyone to place all their resources at the disposal of those chosen by the electorate to lead, namely the government.
A note on the images: the set above shows Mr Bagbin at other conferences and events in Accra, so these are file images, not photos from this conference. I could not confirm their dates or find published pictures of this particular address. For images from the event itself, the Parliament of Ghana’s official social media pages and Citi Newsroom’s report are the best sources.
