The District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) secretariat, has refuted claims it issued dud cheques to its suppliers.
A Member of Parliament’s Finance Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah earlier alleged that government is struggling to release money to the Common Fund for disbursement to the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies because it is cash-strapped.
[contextly_sidebar id=”N91dj222wvlbcxwFMQFyROGfSY4FBmRa”]His claims were backed by a contractor from the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District in the Northern Region, who said a cheque issued to him for building a Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) compound, was rejected by the bank.
But speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund, Kojo Fynn, retorted that even MPs have had their benefits successfully paid from the Fund.
According to him, “The honorable Members of Parliament have been paid all their benefits due from this office. Go back and ask him [Mark Osei Assibey] whether he has been paid his monitoring allowance.”
BoG has to clear cheques
Mr. Fynn spoke to the claims that cheques from the fund were being rejected by banks, explaining that the reason for the rejection may have been because the Bank of Ghana (BoG) was not notified when the cheque was issued for clearing.
“As far as payments are concerned, there was a system in place that was being run by Bank of Ghana. If a cheque is issued, Bank of Ghana has to be notified because of controls to check fraud and other things.”
“When suppliers are issued with cheques, they are advised to hold on so that the office will inform Bank of Ghana as far as the cheques that are issued are concerned… if this office has not notified Bank of Ghana with the details of the cheque issue and you right and present you cheque, the is no way bank of Ghana will pay you,” he explained.
Mr. Fynn also stressed that his outfit would never issue out cheques if they did not have money for payments.
“If as an office we don’t the have money, the bank will not issue out a cheque. I will never issue a cheque if we do not have money,” he reiterated.
He generally refuted suggestions that the secretariat is out of money because government is broke.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana