Advertisement

Mr Richard Quartey
Mr Richard Quartey

Auditor General asked to get tough

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance has charged the Auditor-General (A-G), Mr Richard Quartey, to start disallowing public expenditures that are contrary to its law, the Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003, (Act 658), rather than waiting for them to be expended before they are flagged in its annual reports.

The committee also wants the AG to start surcharging public officials who embezzle, misapply or misappropriate state funds.

By doing so, the committee said Mr Quartey would be invoking his powers under the law and that could help to forestall corruption and bring down the level of misappropriation of public funds in the country.

The charge was contained in the committee’s report on a  €13 million loan agreement between the Government of Ghana and the Kreditanstalt Fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) for the construction of three regional and 22 district offices for the Ghana Audit Service (GAS).

In the report, the Chairman of the Parliament’s Select Committee on Finance, Mr James Avedzi, said Mr Quartey admitted that he had not exercised that power before when he appeared before the committee.

The committee, therefore, urged him to start exercising that power to serve as a disincentive for corruption and improve public accountability.

Increasing ability of GAS

The committee was, however, satisfied with the increasing ability of the GAS to identify abuses in public financial management and misapplication of public funds by some public officials.

This, in the view of the committee, was a step to achieving the desired level of discipline and prudence in the use of public funds by some public officials.

Government signs agreement with KfW

Following the approval of Parliament, government has signed a loan agreement with KfW for an amount of €13 million which will be used for the construction of three regional and 22 district offices for the GAS.

This is expected to enhance and strengthen the regional and district structures of GAS with the aim of improving the execution of its constitutional mandate and domestic accountability.

The total cost of the project is estimated at €15.24 million, out which €13 million is a loan from KfW whilst GAS is expected to make its own contribution of € 2.24 million.

The loan comes with an interest rate of 0.75 per cent per annum, grace period of 10 years, repayment period of 30 years, tenor of 40 years, commitment fee of 0.25 per cent per annum, grant element of 54.45 per cent, and a discount rate of five per cent. 

Mr Quartey, speaking at the signing ceremony, said the project would increase the visibility of GAS in order to become more efficient in the discharge of its functions.

He said it would also ensure timely audit and increase audit coverage by GAS.

Project description

The project has two components, namely investment in infrastructure and capacity development.

Investment in infrastructure involves the construction of three regional offices in Cape Coast, Koforidua and Ho, and 22 district offices in strategic locations across the country.

The selection of the locations for these offices were based on GAS’s priority areas for citing of new district offices, especially those with pressing accommodation demands.

The capacity development component involves the training of GAS staff and the development of training manuals.

Connect With Us : 0242202447 | 0551484843 | 0266361755 | 059 199 7513 |