The Public Accounts Committee on Monday found the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guilty of breaching the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act in 2016 after it retained $33.2 million rather than return it to the Consolidated Fund, as it sought to utilise the sum to fund the construction of its headquarters in Ganges Street.
Defending the agency’s action, Permanent Secretary of the Office of the President (previously referred to as the Ministry of Presidency) Abena Moore, under whose purview the agency falls, told the committee that approval was given by the Finance Secretary at the Ministry of Finance for the multi-year project to be rolled over.
Under grilling from members of the committee at Parliament, Moore explained that it was an oversight on her part for the sum not to be returned to the Consolidated Fund. She explained that the request for the sum to be rolled over was made on December 31st, 2016, and was approved the same day. However, it was later revealed that the Finance Secretary at the time approved the rolling over of the multi-year project, but not the aforementioned sum.