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The Audit Service has rejected the Minority’s suggestions in Parliament that the Service’s delay in submitting and publishing the Auditor General’s reports for the 2019 financial year was an attempt to cover up corruption on the part of the government.
According to the Service, the delay was due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent government shutdown directive in March.
The Minority, in a press conference on Monday accused the Acting Auditor General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, of violating the Constitution and the Audit Service Act which requires him to audit and submit to Parliament his reports on Ghana’s Public Accounts of the last year. within six (6) following the end of said previous year.
But a statement issued Wednesday and signed by the Deputy Director of Public Relations, Ama Awotwi-Bosumafi, explained that the delay was also due to some of his staff testing positive for the Coronavirus, resulting in the suspension of audit assignments. .
The statement read: “While we acknowledge that the Office has not been able to submit all of the Auditor General’s reports on Ghana’s Public Accounts for the financial year 2019 to Parliament as required by relevant laws, we wish to state that this delay is neither intentional nor intentional.
“The delay is solely due to the outbreak of the new corona virus 2019 (COVID-19) that disrupted the business and social life of the government.”
He further explained that, as was the practice, the audits of the accounts prepared by public institutions only began in earnest in mid-March 2020.
“Unfortunately, the Audit Service had to suspend all ongoing audits on March 30, 2020 to comply with the blocking directives issued to all institutions on March 28, 2020 in accordance with section 169 of the Health Law Public of 2012 (Law 851), “he added. .
“Audit Service staff resumed work at their respective locations when the closure was lifted, but some Service employees contracted COVID-19 during audits, resulting in suspension of audit assignments. Staff were then asked to work from home, culminating in further delays at work due to technical and logistical challenges encountered by both auditors and clients.
“These delays prevented the various audit teams from completing their audits in time to allow the Auditor General (Mr. Daniel Y. Domelevo) to present his reports on Ghana’s public accounts to Parliament before the statutory date of June 30, 2020 “. He said.
Thus, it discredits minority allegations in Parliament that the delays were “deliberate with the primary objective of avoiding further embarrassment for the Government … or were intended to cover up wrongdoing by the Government because this year is an election year. “
It added that the delay cannot be attributed to “the President’s order to the Auditor General to proceed with the license,” as the Minority affirms.
According to the statement, on July 20, 2020, the Acting Auditor General, Mr. Asiedu, presented the “Auditor General’s Report on the Consolidated Statements of Bank of Ghana Foreign Exchange Receipts and Payments for the Year Ended 3 December 2019 “.
He said that Mr. Asiedu subsequently informed the Speaker of Parliament that the reports covering other accounts would be delayed due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Service’s audit activities.
He said that most of those pending reports had since been sent to print for later submission to Parliament.
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