The Commissioner of Human Rights and Administrative Justice(CHRAJ), Madam Lauretta Lamptey has been accused of spending an amount of $105,000 on her official foreign trips within two years.
According to Graphic Business, a significant part of the expenses is in relation to ticket upgrades to business class, because organisers of the international conferences she attended made provision for economy class tickets.
According to the Graphic Business, copies of some official documents the paper sighted revealed that the Commissioner makes an average of three trips in a month since her appointment in 2011.
[contextly_sidebar id=”xN4CV1zAIiKC09PxyxVMbvkxbMCKq9bQ”]Sources within CHRAJ also say the frequency of her travels have rendered the Commission ineffective in the discharge of its duties.
Some aggrieved employees of the Commission who accused the Commissioner of not paying their medical bills which had been in arrears for more than two years due to the lack of funds have submitted several office memos of the commissioner’s frequent travel itinerary, which suggests excessive spending on international trips.
They say the Commission also spends between US $ 2,500 to US $ 4,000 on each of the travels of its Commissioner.
This revelation comes months after she was criticised for spending about 200,000 dollars on rent alone.
The Commissioner came under intense criticism for her decision, with some Ghanaians calling for her removal.
This compelled President John Dramani Mahama to call on the Chief Justice to investigate the embattled Commissioner two petitions were sent to the President calling for her impeachment.
Georgina Theodora Wood is expected to submit her results of her investigations to the President for an action to be taken on her.
Investigations also show that CHRAJ spends a significant portion of its budgetary allocations on foreign trips of its management staff.
Reports indicate that the Commission has been largely relying on the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for support to run most of its programmes.
DANIDA is supporting the Commission with GH 7.5 million this year, to complement the central government’s allocation of GH 1.5 million.
By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana