The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has criticised the tendency to use Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings to score political points rather than address financial irregularities identified in the Auditor-General’s reports.
Speaking at the 2026 African Organization of Public Accounts Committees (AFROPAC) conference in Accra, Bagbin said the committee’s work must move beyond public hearings and political exchanges.
He stressed the need for experts to examine the committee’s findings and ensure that identified irregularities are properly investigated and addressed.
His comments come amid public concerns over the handling of financial infractions captured in successive Auditor-General’s reports dating back to 2000, and questions about the extent to which recommendations and findings have translated into actual accountability.
Bagbin drew on his own experience as a former PAC chairman recalling that he chaired the committee from 2001 to 2004 while serving as Minority Leader, a period when convention dictated that the PAC should be led by the minority leader—a political appointment.
“In Ghana, the convention was that the Public Accounts Committee was to always be chaired by the minority leader. That’s a political appointment. And so I happened to have been the minority leader from 2001 to 2008,” he said.
He explained that he quickly observed an over-emphasis on politics at the expense of financial prudence.
“We were just using it for political gain. You hold the government in power to the errors they have committed whilst trying to apply our resources to the benefit of our people,” he said.
Determined to change the approach, Bagbin said he stepped down from the chairmanship so that a professional could take over. From 2005, he handed the position to Honourable Samuel Silas Mensah, a professional accountant and fellow Member of Parliament (MP).
“And so I decided that no, that was not the focus of the Public Accounts Committee. And I wouldn’t really manage to get my colleagues to agree with me to let us hand it over to professionals to chair the Public Accounts Committee. And so I had to step down and to hand over to a professional accountant by name Honourable Samuel Sallas-Mensah,” he stated.
Bagbin said his experience reinforced the need for the PAC to prioritise rigorous scrutiny and follow-through on audit findings rather than partisan confrontations.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
