The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament has chastised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration for spending $2.8 million and €1.79 million on rent for 21 embassies' home-based workers.
In its 2020 report, the Auditor General condemned the payment of these rentals as uneconomic and advocated the adoption of mortgage schemes to alleviate the problem.
However, speaking before the committee, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, stated that the proposed mortgage scheme for mission lodging has proven an issue.
He stated that the government's objective is to buy properties for all of its foreign missions, but obtaining financing has been a huge difficulty for the Ministry.
"The government's objective is to buy properties for the missions, residencies and chancery but the reality on the ground is that it is not simple for Other Missions to receive mortgages in these foreign nations. So far, we have not been successful. We are looking into a variety of options in order to raise the necessary finances." We've made some progress and are optimistic about the future."
The Committee also expressed worry regarding the Ministry's payment of GH7.9 million for a project that began in 2007 at a cost of GH1.4 million.
According to the Ministry, the contractor abandoned the project in 2008, but the contract was renegotiated in 2017 to GH7.9 million despite an initial payment of about 90% of the total cost.