President Akufo-Addo has charged district auditors to live up to expectation in the conduct of their duties by ensuring that all avenues that amount to leakage of the public purse are blocked.
According to him, his administration will not tolerate auditors who are either complacent or incompetent. President Akufo-Addo urged Auditors in the various districts to professionally execute their responsibilities in plugging leakages in the public purse.
“… It has become routine for the Auditor-General to uncover cases of financial malfeasance in the public service that will otherwise go unnoticed until they appear. As a result, we cannot avoid the conclusion that the district auditors must be either complacent or incompetent. We cannot afford to have auditors that will be complacent in the malfeasance they are expected to prevent, and certainly, we do not need incompetent auditors”.
President Akufo-Addo
Speaking at the the maiden edition of the District Auditors’ Conference in Kumasi under the theme: ‘Ensuring the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the State Auditor in a Digitised Economy’, President Akufo-Addo expressed dissatisfaction over cases of financial malfeasance recurringly uncovered at the Public Accounts Committee.
Following this, the President indicated district auditors working as they should will bring confidence in the public sector.
“Every time we hear details of the report of the Auditor-General and hearings of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, we know the district auditors are not working as they should… District auditors working as they should will keep in check not only lowly clerk but also the district chief executive and ultimately the President. The district auditor is one of the primary weapons in the fight for the protection of the public purse and the fight against corruption”.
President Akufo-Addo
Fighting corruption in the country
Touching on the need to effectively tackle corruption, President Akufo-Addo iterated that the fight against corruption can be effective if district auditors work as expected. He expressed that when such public officers are digitally literate, the fight against corruption will be realized.
“… Being digitally literate will now be a necessary element in the professional make-up of all auditors… I came to this function to emphasis without avoidance of doubt that the district auditor is one of the primary weapons in the fight for the protection of the public purse and the fight against corruption”.
President Akufo-Addo
Meanwhile, Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu expressed his preparedness to help in the fight against corruption. Currently, out of the 275 administrative districts, the audit service is located only in 76 and 30 of the districts where the properties are located belongs to the service.
Commenting on this, the Auditor-General, Mr Asiedu, indicated that their offices are either accommodated by the assemblies or rented property. Following this, he intimated that there is therefore “no gainsaying” that the service is in dire need of a number of district offices to operate in.
Mr Asiedu expressed the readiness of his outfit to help in the fight against corruption.
“The transformation of the Audit Service in recent times has put us in a position poised to take the fight against corruption to another level. We pledge our readiness to deliver as expected of us and even more”.
Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu
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