Takoradi — The Principal of Sefwi-Viawsa College of Education, Dr. Emmanuel Karsemer, has been accused by the Auditor-General of canceling SarfoTrading contracts worth GH¢171,584 for the supply of foodstuffs without justification and re-awarded B Venture for GH¢185,185.
This resulted in an increase of GH13,601 in the contract price, contrary to Section 7 of the Public Finance Management Act 2016, Act 921.
“We recommend that Dr. Emmanuel Karsemer refund the sum of GH¢13,601 to the college,” the Auditor General (AG) report on post-university institutions for the financial year ending December 31, 2019 recommended.
He again noted that Sefwi Wiawso College of Education had awarded contracts worth GH¢269,778.99 to B Bert Ventures for the supply of goods and services in contravention of Section 40 of the Procurement Act as amended and recommended that Dr Karsemer be sanctioned under the section 92 of the Procurement Act 2003.
These were some of the major findings made against Dr Karsemer-led Sefwi Vyawsa College of Education on Monday when he and his team appeared before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on the first day of a three-day sitting in Takoradi to consider four AG reports, sent to the committee from the Central, Western and Western Northern regions.
The CEO’s report also stated that the management of Sefwi Wiawso College of Education failed to collect rent of GH10,897 from 24 staff who were occupying the college’s bungalow, some of them up to 120 months in arrears, in violation of Regulation 46 of the Public Finance Management Rules, 2019 LI 2378.
“We recommend that management take action, including deductions from their wages and allowances, to recover the arrears.” attached to the report.
It continued: “We note that Sefwi Wiawso College of Education has made unjustified payments with a total face value of GH¢61,438.35 contrary to Regulation 78 of the PFMA Act 2019, LI 2378. We recommend the head of the institution to refund the amount to the school account.”
Commenting on the procurement report, Bole-Bamboi Member of Parliament Youssef Sulemana said Dr Karsemer had broken the law, stressing that “this is what the auditors are saying, but we don’t seem to have taken it seriously”.
Regarding the supply of food products, he argued that “whether the contract is in writing or not. You had a relationship with Sarfo Trading and therefore had a contract. You have questions that need to be answered. Don’t ask us questions. . The contract allows you to continue the processes and you breached that, so the auditors are right.’
PAC chairman James Avedi said Dr Karsemer and his team should have allowed Sarfo Trading to supply the food since they quoted a lower price, but they chose to go with B Enterprises instead.
“You should be sanctioned and therefore you should return this amount because you violated the procurement law,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Mr Owedi expressed disappointment at the attitude of the 46 staff of the Komenda Teachers College for not paying their rent for 13 months totaling GH20,027 and asked if they could afford the luxury of staying in the city.
Therefore, he ordered the management to recover the said amount.
There were also 16 payment vouchers covering nine employees of the college, amounting to GH100,299.50, which represented advance money that had not been retired, the AG report quoted the PAC chairman as saying.
He said “the reason for the anomaly is poor management control and the failure of the accountant to ensure that the advance costs are withdrawn as required”.
Mr Awedi said “three employees of Komenda College of Education have not paid their advance payments amounting to GH¢10,881”.
