Mr. James Klutse Avedzi, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, has defended the Auditor General, Mr. Johnson Akuamoah-Asiedu, for publishing the special audit on government’s Covid-19 expenditure despite contrary views expressed by the Attorney General.
This comes after the Attorney General had insisted that the Auditor General breached the constitution by releasing the document to the public domain prior to its interrogation by the Public Accounts Committee.
In a letter to Mr. Johnson Akuamoah-Asiedu, the Auditor General, the Attorney General, Mr Godfred Dame revealed that Article 187(5) of the Constitution mandates the Auditor-General to submit his report to Parliament and in that report, draw attention to any irregularities in the accounts audited.
Mr. Odame further added that Article 187(6) of the Constitution requires that Parliament must then debate the report of the Auditor-General and appoint, where necessary and in the public interest, a committee to deal with any matters arising from it.
Per the account of the Attorney General, it is only after satisfying the constitutional requirement of submitting the Auditor General’s report to Parliament, the subsequent debate by Parliament thereon and the conclusion of work by the appropriate committee of Parliament, that the report of the Auditor-General may be considered final and relevant action may be taken thereon. He consequently asked the Auditor-General to unpublish the report, pending the fulfilment of constitutional injunctions leading to the ultimate publication, including submitting the report first to Parliament.
However, Mr. klutse Avedzi in an interview, insisted that the Auditor General did not breach the law as alleged by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice.
The lawmaker divulged that Article 187(5) mandates the Auditor General to submit to Parliament, governement’s audited reports not less than six months after the end of the year which the “Auditor has done and fulfilled that provision of the constitution.”
The Member of Parliament for Ketu North Constituency emphasized that, the Auditor General only executed his constitutional mandate by publishing the report and admonished that the Attorney General should take measures to amend Section 23 of the Audit Service Act to ensure that the publication is done after the report had been debated by the Public Accounts Committee but until then, the Auditor General is only carrying out his constitutional mandate.
“The Auditor General just went in compliance with the law. The constitution said he should submit the report to Parliament, and he did that. The constitution also said he should publish the report, and he has done that.
“What he should look out for is the lacuna. Section 23 of the Audit Service Act should be amended so that after the Auditor General has submitted the report to Parliament, he should wait until the Public Accounts Committee debates the report before it can be published, but as it stands now, the Auditor General can publish without waiting for a debate on the report by PAC.”
Mr Klutse
Prosecute Officials Cited In Auditor General’s Report
Meanwhile, it will be recalled that the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) called on the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate all Ministers and public officials who have been cited in the Auditor General’s report on the Covid 19 expenditure.
According to the opposition party, it is prudent to launch a serious investigations into how COVID-19 funds were spent by Government, thus requiring accountability.
The call was made by the National Communications Officer of the NDC, Mr. Sammy Gyamfi ESQ at its Moment of Truth press conference held at the party headquarters in Accra. As he called on the Special Prosecutor, he also called on the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) to expedite its public hearings on the Special Audit Report into COVID-19 expenditures.
The hearing, he noted should be televised live for the Ghanaian populace to have the privilege to watch and listen to how Akufo-Addo led government have mismanaged COVID-19 funds.
To ensure accountability and punishing wrong doers, Mr. Sammy Gyamfi ESQ urged Parliament to compel the Auditor-General to exercise his power of surcharge and disallowance to retrieve all COVID-19 funds that have been misapplied or misused through various infractions and veritable acts of criminality.
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