Controller and Accountant General, Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem did not appear before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) last Monday, leaving some committee members puzzled by his absence.
Mr. Kwaning-Bosompem was scheduled to respond to questions on behalf of his office, an agency of the Ministry of Finance, but he failed to attend without seeking permission from the committee.
The Controller and Accountant-General, who sought to represent the New Patriotic Party (NPP) as a parliamentary candidate at New Akyem Swedru, was unsuccessful in the polls on Saturday, January 27, 2024.
Votes
Kwaning-Bosompem suffered defeat at the hands of the incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Kennedy Osei Nyarko, securing only 94 votes compared to the incumbent’s 194.
During the PAC session on Monday, Deputy Minister for Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, who led the ministry and its agencies, attempted to explain the Controller and Accountant General’s absence. However, her explanation was not well received.
Yusif Sulemana, the MP for Bole Bamboi and a PAC member, mentioned that Kwaning-Bosompem had indicated that his participation in the NPP primaries would not impact his work. Therefore, he should not have been absent just because he lost in the primaries.
Outburst
This comment by the MP led to an outburst of laughter at the committee sitting.
“I want to ask whether the controller is on leave.
If he is on leave, let us know because we were told that he was contesting for an election, and he said that he was still at post and was capable of handling the two activities, so why is he not here?He should have been here, regardless of the loss,” the Bole Bambi MP said.
The MP insisted that Osei-Asare should give a tangible reason why the Accountant-General was absent, but the Chairman of PAC, James Klutse Avedzi, came to the rescue of the deputy minister by asking members of the committee to shelve their questions on Kwaning-Bosompem for a later date.