The Ranking Member of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) Samuel Atta Mills has charged absentee Ministers at the ongoing public hearing of the Committee to precede to Tamale, the Northern Regional Capital to answer infractions leveled against their Ministries as contained in the Auditor-General Reports.
“You have been invited to Parliament, Accra to answer infractions. However, for reason best known to you, you have failed to appear. Therefore, you have to proceed to Tamale to answer them where the Committee sits again on April 7, 2026!” he charged.
In an exclusive interview with fmnewsonline.com after Monday’s sitting, Hon Mills wondered why some Ministers could simply be carried away by their positions to turn down such serious invitation from Parliament.
He maintained that these invitations had been sent to the Ministers involved via the normal channel. Therefore, there was no reason why concerned Ministers should deny reception of them (invitations).
While attributing this to sheer arrogance, he wondered why no excuses had been advanced so far by these absentee Ministers.
According to him, the matter before, the Committee was of grave concern to the President, he, John Mahama hence his referral to Parliament and the Committee for that matter to solicit answers to these breaches.
Hon. Mills was quick to point out that so far no Minister had ever been indicted to warrant any of them dodging the Committee’s sitting.
He intimated that failure for Minister to appear before, the Committee in Tamale will attract a severe sanction of “refusal to attend” in the report to be compiled by the Committee for onward transmission to the President.
“If you think, you were appointed so you could misbehave, you will be shocked that you could also be disappointed”, he exclaimed.
The Ranking Member noted that Ministers of Fisheries, Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts are those who have failed to appear before, the Committee when they sat on Monday, 31st March 2026.
While stating that he was not holding brief for the Ministry of Fisheries and Aqua Culture, he mentioned that the Fisheries Ministry has no Deputy but with Ministry of Tourism, it has a Deputy and the deputy could have represented the substantive Minister.
By S.O. Ankamah and Edzorna Mensah
