Anti-corruption activist Vitus Azeem has told government it cannot decide for the auditor general how to perform his constitutional functions.
It comes after government raised concerns over the conclusions of the auditor general in his report over the ministry of finance assets recovery contract with Kroll.
The auditor general has reported that the Finance ministry paid Kroll US$1m for no work done.
At a media briefing in Accra Wednesday, the Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah rebutted “Indeed, the report itself concedes that information on this transaction was requested from the Ministry of Finance (MoF) by the Auditors.”
“The MOF, in turn, reported that it will have to get details from the office of the Senior Minister which was the appropriate office that executed the transaction,” he said.
He said the Auditor-General is further reported to have gone public and announced this finding to the mass media as though it is a concluded non-negotiable fact. The Constitutional practice is that the report is submitted to Parliament and affected MDAs invited to respond, he said.
Reacting to the comments, Mr. Azeem said the finance ministry could have responded in time when the auditor general demanded their response before filing his report.
“The AG can go ahead and conclude it’s report when the institution written to fails to give the necessary respond after a deadline given. If the Finance Ministry believes work has been done and has evidence, they should provide it…. The time is too short to have gone through the whole competitive process. The contract is questionable,” he told Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Thursday.
The finance ministry acquired the services of Kroll Associates in 2017 to recover assets from identified wrongdoers, investigate allegations of wrongdoing, provide evidence for assets recoveries, build capacity for the transfer of skills, give advice on preventative techniques and structures to detect and forestall future corruption.
However, in its annual report on Public Accounts of Ghana (PAG) as of 31 December 2018 on the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Auditor-General stated: “During our review of the contract with Kroll Associates, we noted that though there was no evidence of work done, the ministry, in 2018, paid an amount of US$1 million (equivalent of GH¢4,890,000) to the company”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh
