Stop the 'I wasn't there, I came to meet this' excuses and take responsibility – PAC Chair to heads of State agencies

The Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Abena Osei-Asare, has urged management of state-owned agencies to be proactive and take full responsibility for duties entrusted to their care.

She says excuses about inheriting problems from predecessors should not be a justification for inaction by heads of state institutions.

Speaking during a working visit by the PAC to the National Petroleum Authority (NPA) on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, to familiarise itself with the operations of the Authority, Madam Osei-Asare charged public officials to protect and pursue their mandate diligently.

"I think that is what we should all do, that once we are entrusted with something we should take it serious and protect it and guard it and pursue it so that even the person who gave it to you will sit back and feel proud that I didn't make a mistake," she said.

She made the call after commending the Chief Executive of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, for taking responsibility and initiating steps to recover over GH¢2 million misapplied by his predecessor, despite not being in office at the time the infraction occurred.

She said Mr. Tameklo's response during his appearance at the PAC was exemplary and should be emulated by other heads of State agencies who appear before the Committee, instead of distancing themselves from institutional failures that occurred before their appointment.

"But for some of them we all see it when they come, 'I wasn't there, I came to meet this' - it doesn't matter what you came to meet, what have you done about it since? That is what we should do," she stated.

The PAC Chair said the purpose of the visit was to have first-hand information on the activities of the NPA to inform the work of the Committee.

"And so today we are here to see for ourselves first-hand what exactly goes into the activities that you do," she said.

She added that the engagement will help the Committee ask better-informed questions going forward.

"So we are happy to be here, we just want you to take us through so that when we sit back and we are also asking questions we know that really we know what we talking about," she said.