Law lecturer and Vice Chairperson of Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) Ghana, Clara Beeri Kasser-Tee, has revealed that the Auditor General does not require the permission of anyone to publish report in the country.
According to her, it was constitutional for the Auditor-General to publish the report. She indicated contrary to the demand by the Attorney General, Godfred Dame, for the AG to unpublish the COVID-19 report, the AG does not need Parliament’s approval to publish its report.
Mrs Kasser-Tee explained that in accordance with the Audit Act, the Auditor-General is obliged to submit its report to Parliament and then proceed to publish the report.
“The Auditor-General does not need the permission of anybody on when to publish their report… What the law tells the Auditor-General to do is that after you are done with your Audit report present or submit it to parliament. Then the Auditor-General’s work is done under the Audit Act. After this, the Act instructs the Auditor-General to publish it.”
Clara Beeri Kasser-Tee
Mrs Kasser-Tee stated that when the law mandates an institution to publish its work, the findings become a “public document”. She further noted, in the process of writing the report, the law mandates that equal opportunity be given to all parties in the report for balanced representation.
“What the Auditor-General has to do is, in preparing the audit report they must follow certain processes that include giving the right to be heard to all the parties who are subject to the audit report.”
Clara Beeri Kasser-Tee
Elaborating on what Parliament was supposed to do with the audit report Mrs Kasser-Tee highlighted, parliament was to debate and form committees when necessary. She emphasized that although legal actions could be taken by anyone dissatisfied with the audit report, the action did not include Parliament directing the Auditor-General to change sections of the report.
“The purpose of Parliament is to see whether or not things have gone wrong”,” she said.”
Clara Beeri Kasser-Tee
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, James Avedzi, has also revealed that the Auditor-General did nothing untoward in publishing the special audit on government’s Covid-19 expenditure. He stated that the Auditor-General complied with the provisions of the 1992 Constitution.
According to him, Article 187(5) mandates the Auditor-General to submit to Parliament, government’s audited reports not less than six months after the end of the year.
Mrs Kasser-Tee’s comments come in the wake of demands by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, for the AG to unpublish government’s Covid-19 transactions pending the fulfilment of the constitutional injunctions leading to the ultimate publication, including submitting the report first to Parliament.
NDC demands withdrawal of letter from Attorney General
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has in the interim requested the Attorney-General to withdraw a letter against the Covid-19 report published by the Auditor-General. The opposition party believes the directive by the Attorney-General derails the fight against corruption.
It will be recalled that on February 7, the Justice Minister described the report, which exposed widespread infractions by government agencies & ministries, as premature because it was published before Parliament had a chance to deliberate it.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Godfred Yeboah Dame, protested what he described as a premature, the publication of the report of the special audit on the Government’s COVID-19 transactions by the Auditor-General.
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.
The Attorney General pointed out that publishing the report ahead of its scrutiny by Parliament or a committee is unconstitutional.
In a letter for the Auditor-General, Mr. Johnson Akuamoah-Asiedu, the Attorney-General referenced “various discussions between your good self and me regarding the effective implementation of reports of the Auditor-General on audits into the public accounts of Ghana, particularly with regard to the issuance of disallowances and surcharges”.
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