A think tank, the Centre for Socioeconomic Studies (CSS) has written to the Auditor General requesting the immediate release of the 2019 Fiscal Year Audit Reports to Parliament.
The Auditor General Daniel Domelevo has the responsibility for submitting these reports to parliament but has been forced to take a long leave that will last till the first quarter of 2021.
He has been replaced with one of his deputies Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu but is unclear whether he has the capacity to compile or submit these reports to Parliament.
CSS in a letter dated August 11, 2020 and signed by a Fellow, Albert Wotorgbui argued that the request had become necessary because the auditor general had failed to meet the timelines set by constitution for the submission to parliament and publication of the 2019 fiscal year reports.
The think tank said Article 187(5) of the 1992 Constitution mandated the Auditor General to have submitted this reports within the first six months of 2020.
According to the CSS the reports would give the Ghanaian an inkling of the use to which the public purse is being put.
The centre said the Auditor General would also have the opportunity to in the report, “draw attention to any irregularities in the accounts audited and to any other matter which in his opinion ought to be brought to the notice of Parliament and the general public as a whole.”
CSS believes the Auditor General in failing to release the 2019 Fiscal Year Audit reports is inconsistent with the office’s mandate to “bring to bear on public finance transparency, integrity, and public accountability for the purposes of good governance and development.”
CSS is convinced any further delay in the publication of the 2019 Fiscal Year Audit reports would amount to the Auditor General using his office to shield public officials who may be engaged in acts that are not in the interest of the Ghanaian.
The Auditor General Daniel Domelevo has been forced by President Akufo-Addo to go on a long accumulated leave and was recently locked out of his office
Story: Sena Nombo/Radiogoldlive.com
