PURC blows GHc100k on hampers, PAC angry

The Public Accounts Committee of (PAC) of Parliament has criticised the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) for spending approximately GHc100,000 on Christmas hampers in 2012.

Members of the committee vented their anger at representatives of the Commission, who made an appearance before the parliamentary body on Tuesday, June 14 to answer to financial infractions uncovered in the Auditor General's report for 2012.

It has become customary in Ghana, for private firms, government departments and individuals to send gift baskets to business colleagues and friends during the festive season.

But PAC members expressed shock at the amount spent by the PURC on 330 pieces of Christmas hampers in 2012.

Some of the members held the view that the expenditure was unwarranted and did not make economic sense.

The Vice Chairperson for PAC, Samuel Atta Akyea expressed worry over the issue and wondered why a commission set up to protect the interest of the public, would end up wasting resources in that manner.

“With your core functions and statutory obligations and mandate, who were you trying to please in dashing these kinds of things during Christmas?” he questioned.

Before he died in 2012, President John Evans Atta Mills had cause to ban the giving and receiving of hampers by state bodies as a way of fighting corruption.