Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has opened public hearings on the Auditor General’s 2025 reports, with a reported financial irregularity of GH¢5.2 billion in the audit of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) at the top of its agenda.
Committee Chairperson Hon. Abena Osei Asare said the most alarming part of that figure is a tax infraction of GH¢4.8 billion. The committee will question the institutions involved in public, asking what they have recovered, what they have fixed, and what has changed since the auditors came calling.
Hon. Osei Asare said the hearings must show Ghanaians what the findings mean, and that tax authorities will be pressed on how they have handled the problem.
Public Money Behind Every Audit Figure
The hearings opened with a reminder of what the numbers stand for. Hon. Osei Asare said the committee works from the principle that “behind every audit figure is public money.”
When a market woman pays tolls, a worker pays income tax, a business pays corporate tax or a shopper pays VAT, she said, a basic bargain is struck. Government may collect, but government must account.
The Chairperson explained that the committee exists under the Constitution to enforce that bargain. Its job is to follow the money, establish the facts, demand answers and make sure corrective action follows.
She admitted that some of what is said at the hearings sounds technical, which is why auditees are called to answer questions themselves and break the reports down for viewers on television and online.
A GH¢5.2 Billion Question for MDAs
The committee has been presented with 23 reports this year. Ten are statutory reports, 11 are performance audits, and two are special reports. Members are looking at three reports at this stage, and one of them is the audit of MDAs for 2025, which records the GH¢5.2 billion irregularity.
The Vaultz News earlier reported that MDA financial infractions hit GH¢5.26 billion in 2025, with tax irregularities accounting for most of the total. The Chairperson’s remarks confirm where the committee intends to dig first.
Tax Infraction Draws the Sharpest Concern
Of the total, the GH¢4.8 billion tax infraction is the figure that worries the Chairperson most. The committee will look for answers on how the tax authorities have remedied the situation, and on whether the money flagged by auditors has been pursued.
Hon. Osei Asare welcomed the way the Auditor General’s 2025 reports separate administrative infractions, which are mainly compliance-based, from real financial losses that must be recovered.
The committee will follow the evidence and keep the two apart. A missed procedure and a missing cedi are not the same offence, and the Chairperson wants Ghanaians to see the difference.
The picture is not equally bleak across the public sector. The Vaultz News reported that public boards and corporations cut financial irregularities by 85.6% in 2025, which makes the MDA figure stand out more.
Ending the Cycle of Repeat Findings
The Chairperson addressed a complaint she said everyone around the table shares, which is that the same audit findings appear year after year. When one institution is cited again and again for the same control failure, she said, “We are dealing with a failure to learn.”
Members are determined, in her words, “not to make PAC a revolving door.” The question the committee will now put to every institution is what has changed because of the audits. In her view, that is what auditing should be telling the country.
What Institutions Must Tell the Committee
Institutions appearing before the committee will be expected to cover four areas. They must say where money is recoverable and whether they have recovered it. They must say where systems are weak and whether those systems have been fixed.
They must account for outstanding recommendations and whether they have been implemented. And where wrongdoing has been established, they must say whether the law has been applied.
The committee will also credit those who have done the work. As it did last year, it will tell the public where institutions have corrected deficiencies and strengthened their systems. The Chairperson described the approach as tough but fair.
Government Answers the Taxpayer
Hon. Osei Asare closed her remarks by turning the usual argument around. The taxpayer, she said, has already answered the government’s call by paying taxes. The hearings are where government answers the taxpayer’s call by accounting.
She set out the standard for the weeks ahead: “Audits must lead to action. Action must lead to correction, and wrongdoing must lead to consequences.” The GH¢4.8 billion tax infraction will be the first real test of whether the committee can hold the tax authorities to it.
