The Member of Parliament for Wa East, and Member of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Dr. Godfred Seidu Jasaw is urging the Auditor-General to fully utilize his powers granted him by the constitution to deal with the issue of infractions in his audit reports.
Wa East lawmaker’s comment comes after a thorough scrutiny of the total amount of irregularities in relation to tax,cash,debt/loans/advances,payroll, procurement, contracts,and rent, between tne period of 2020 and 2024 which revealed a rather trend.
The report detailed that whereas in 2023, the country recorded GHS2,407,307,147 to irregularities, a marginal sum of GHS 2,055,094,878 was recorded in 2024, a situation, Honourable Dr Godfred Seidu Jasaw, the Wa East MP indicated that the Auditor-General has the powers to both disallowance and surcharge in order to recover.
In lieu of the foregoing,the lawmaker is urging tne Auditor-General to utilize the powers of Article 187 (7b) empowers the Auditor-General to disallow and surcharge persons involved in and responsible for financial irregularities in the public sector.
In an interview, Dr. Jasaw stressed that the Auditor-General in addition to its powers, has the right to arraigned offenders to court should they fail to refund unearned state monies.
The move, he said if carried out would deter other people from committing monetary fraud in various ministries, departments and agencies of state, thereby reducing the workload on the committee.
Per his observation, he thinks the current Auditor-General is gripped by fear to fight corruption optimally within his assigned mandate to go after perpetrators of financial infractions.
The predecessor, Mr. Daniel Yaw Domelovo’s unfortunate experience of corruption fighting back at the instance of him fighting the menace might perhaps accounted for his reason not to push harder.
Story by: Prosper Kwaku Selassy Agbitor
About The Author
