Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has stepped down the audit report on Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., covering 2017 to 2025, and the report on the 13th All African Games after the Auditor-General withdrew the documents for correction.
Chairperson of the Committee, Abena Osei-Asare, said the two reports would not be considered during the current sittings until corrected and duly authorised versions are returned to Parliament and referred to the Committee.
“This is because the Committee, through a letter by the Auditor-General to Parliament, has written to withdraw this particular report,” she said.
“The report on the 13th All African Games was also stepped down during our debriefing with the Auditor-General. And so we will not be looking at these two reports until they are brought back to us again.”
The decision follows significant public scrutiny of both audits over alleged financial irregularities.
A forensic audit of Ghana’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., covering January 2017 to June 2025, identified an estimated US$19.38 million in irregular financial transactions, linked to visa and passport application support services, mailing fees and other transactions. The auditors recommended recovery of the identified amounts and sanctions against officials found culpable.
The Embassy audit followed investigations into alleged unauthorised fees charged to visa and passport applicants through external platforms linked to a former locally recruited ICT officer, Fred Kwarteng. The controversy led to the temporary closure of the mission on May 26, 2025, the recall of Foreign Affairs Ministry staff and the suspension of locally recruited staff as investigations proceeded.
The audit of the 13th All African Games also identified financial irregularities involving procurement, accommodation, catering, transport, equipment and infrastructure. The Auditor-General recommended recovery of more than GH¢579 million, alongside US$44.35 million and €629,070, from three former officials named in the report.
The Atiwa East MP said the Committee would consider the reports once properly corrected, stressing that their withdrawal did not mean PAC would not scrutinise the issues raised.
“Our position is that accountability requires agency, but credibility requires accuracy. And we will insist on both,” she said.
She said PAC would focus its hearings on determining where public money could be recovered, whether recoveries had been made, whether weaknesses in systems had been addressed and whether recommendations from previous audits had been implemented.
“Where wrongdoings have been established, whether the law has been applied,” she added.
Abena Osei-Asare said the Committee would also recognise institutions that had corrected deficiencies and strengthened their systems, insisting that accountability should be firm but fair.
“Public money must have a public account; standard must lead to action, action must lead to action, and wrongdoing must lead to consequences,” she said.
