The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), has been indicted in the Auditor General\u2019s report for blowing GHc99, 663 on the distribution of Christmas hampers.<\/p>\n
According to the report, the amount was expended on such items \u201cduring the 2012 Christmas and New Year break.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe observed that the amount of GHc99, 663 for the purchase of the hampers was not retired or adjusted to the personal advance account of the imprest holder, instead the entire amount was expended at the end of the year in violation of the provisions of FAR 288. This was due to the absence of a mechanism in place to ensure that such advances were retired promptly,\u201d the report added.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”XsB08wZ6vIaVyUFptDuETXQSz4DCxf4J”]The Auditor General further recommended that \u201cmanagement should put in place mechanism to ensure that advances are retired promptly.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is common practice in Ghana for individuals and companies to distribute hampers loaded with gifts to their friends, business associates, customers and people in authority during the festive season.<\/p>\n
Critics say such profligate expenditures overburden the national purse especially when the country’s economy has been struggling.<\/p>\n
The late President John Atta Mills in 2009, ordered the various ministries to desist from using state resources to purchase such Christmas hampers and gifts, something he believed contributed to the high levels of corruption.<\/p>\n