Deputy National Communications Officer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Julius Kwame Anthony, has questioned the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) demand for invoices covering expenditure on the evacuation of Ghanaians, insisting that such financial records should be submitted to the Auditor-General Dr. Pamela Graham rather than opposition political parties.
He argued that the responsibility for examining government expenditure rests with independent auditing institutions, particularly the Auditor-General, and not political parties seeking to scrutinise government transactions.
Speaking to Isaac Addae on The Verdict on Starr FM, Mr Anthony maintained that the appropriate procedure is for the relevant auditing institutions to examine the financial records and provide an independent assessment of the transactions.
According to him, opposition political parties are not the designated institutions responsible for auditing government transactions and determining whether public funds have been properly utilised.
“We don’t provide invoices of transactions engaged in by the Republic of Ghana to the NPP. We provide them to the Auditor-General of the Republic,” he stated.
Mr Anthony further questioned the basis for the NPP’s demand, arguing that it was inappropriate for an opposition political party to expect state institutions to submit financial records directly to it instead of following established accountability procedures.
He maintained that independent auditors are better positioned to assess the accuracy of financial records and determine whether expenditure reflects the actual transactions undertaken by the state.
He argued that the NPP’s demand for invoices from the Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa overlooks the established mechanisms for auditing public expenditure, insisting that concerns about possible financial irregularities should be addressed through the appropriate auditing processes.
Story By Pamela Quayson
