NDC students wing at KNUST comments on PAC hearings

Kumasi, Nov. 2, GNA - The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) students wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed worry about reported cases of maladministration emerging from the sittings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), saying they reflected total lack of commitment by the Executive to fight corruption.

"We are even more shocked by the fact that seven years after

declaring a policy of zero tolerance for corruption, the President

Kufuor-led New Patriotic Party government can sit by and watch

helplessly as the meagre resources of the nation are plundered by

selfish government officials," the group said in a statement in Kumasi on Wednesday. The statement, which was jointly signed by Mr Moses Armah and Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, President and Public Relations Officer, respectively, of the NDC's Tertiary Educational Institutions Network (TEIN), also asked the President to dismiss the Attorney General (AG).

The group described as "shocking" the performance of the AG

during his appearance before the Committee to answer questions

in the case involving a former public officer alleged to have stolen

GH=A2430,000 (4.3 billion cedis) of the taxpayer's money. "Not only did the AG lie under oath before the PAC, but (he)

also exhibited sheer incompetence and a lack of seriousness over

the matter by not establishing the whereabouts of the docket of

the case forwarded to his outfit from the Bureau of National

Investigations," the statement said. The group held that the AG's apology before the Committee

was hollow and ought to be ignored, adding that the issue had

been raised in queries and management letters served on him by

the PAC as far back as June this year, so he had more than ample

time to put his house in order and find the docket.

"We have always had our doubts about the President's commitment to his declaration of zero tolerance for corruption, but we believe an opportunity has availed itself for him to salvage whatever little credibility is left of that declaration by sacking the AG and those who were found to have misappropriated state funds," it said.

The statement commended the PAC for its commitment to duty and demanded the immediate prosecution of those it found culpable. It also entreated government to put in place the necessary mechanisms to fight corruption.