The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has urged the Attorney-General, Godfred Yeboah Dame, to act on the findings of the Auditor-General’s report on the government’s COVID-19 expenditure covering the period March 2020 to June 2022 and prosecute the malfeasances.
According to the CDD, the Auditor-General had delivered on his constitutional mandate as an independent governance body, to carry out probes and report to the public on how state resources were applied to pave the way for the punishment of infractions by the government.
“The government should have asked the Attorney-General to prosecute all the infractions in the audit report and that is the kind of reaction we need, given how people have handled state money,” the CDD said.
The Director of Advocacy and Policy Engagement at CDD-Ghana, Dr Kojo Asante, said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in response to a letter from the Attorney-General to the Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, criticising his audit report on the government’s COVID-19 expenditures covering the period March 2020 to June 2022.
Government’s responsibility
Dr Asante noted that the responsibility of any government was to protect state resources and as such, the primary duty of the Attorney- General would be to punish all entities who had misappropriated state funds in one way or the other.
That, he believed, would serve as a strong deterrent to entities and individuals who continue to misuse funds meant for the development of the nation.
“Obviously, the content of the expenditure report is something government is not happy with, they seem more concerned about how good or bad they look to the people which is far from what their responsibilities are,” he lamented.
Unconstitutional request
According to Dr Asante, the Attorney-General’s request asking Mr Akuamoah Asiedu to withdraw the special audit report was unconstitutional and an interference of the Auditor-General’s duties.
He explained that Section 23(1) of the Audit Service Act, 2000 (Act 584) required the Auditor-General to publish his reports as soon as the reports had been presented to the Speaker to be laid before Parliament.
“This says nothing about parliament debating on it first, so if he does not understand, he should go for constitutional interpretation which I believe is a waste of time and resources because the law is very clear,” he added.
Dr Asante, therefore, urged Mr Akuamoah Asiedu to resist all attempts by the government to interfere in delivering on his mandate to serve the people.
Source: graphic.com.gh
