Occupy Ghana is still calling for the Auditor General to give documentation that it recovered GH2.2 billion in disallowances between 2017 and 2020.
In its most recent request to the Auditor General, the organization reiterated its desire to initiate steps requiring the office to disclose the material through the Right to Information Commission.
It stated, “we write to repeat our request and to notify you that we will escalate this request to the Right to Information Commission if we do not receive a copy of the promised report from you within seven days of the date of this letter.”
From 2017 and 2020, the Auditor-report General showed disallowances totalling more than GH2.2 billion.
The total amount exceeds the Auditor-expected General’s disallowances of GH4 billion.
It was collected during an investigation by the Audit Service into expenditure violations in pre-university institutions, technical universities, public boards, ministries, departments, and organizations, as well as the District Assemblies Common Fund.
The money was also recovered by revealing seven inconsistencies in cash usage, contracts, indebtedness (loans and advances), payrolls, leases, shops (procurement), and taxes that the Auditor General later discovered to be fake.
Tax fraud accounted for GH1.6 billion of the total, advances, and loans accounted for GH420.31 million, and cash fraud accounted for GH131.07 million.
Contracts, payrolls, rent, and stores/procurement contributed the remaining GH13.60 million.
Nevertheless, OccupyGhana claims that their demand for proof is being hampered by the Auditor-failure General’s release of the necessary information.
“On 11 January 2023, we wrote to you (our ref: OG/2023/001) to inquire whether you had finalised your report and request that a copy of the report be made available to us. You have not responded to that letter”, it said.
Below is the full statement:
7 March 2023
The Auditor-General
Auditor-General’s Department
P O Box M 96
Accra
Dear Sir,
RE: AUDITOR-GENERAL RETRIEVES GHȻ2.2BN – REPRESENTS DISALLOWANCES FROM 2017 TO 2020
On 30 September 2022, we wrote to you (our ref: OG/2022/037), demanding evidence backing the claim that you had issued disallowances and made recoveries in the amount stated in the heading to this letter.
You responded by a letter signed by one Ali Mohammed Zakaria (DAG/FAHRD) and dated 7 October 2022 (your ref: DAG/F&A/FIN/22.10/001), claiming that you had drafted a report on the recoveries, you were finalising it for Parliament, and ‘immediately the report is finalised a copy will be made available’ to us.
On 11 January 2023, we wrote to you (our ref: OG/2023/001) to inquire whether you had finalised your report and requested that a copy of the report be made available to us. You have not responded to that letter.
We write to repeat our request and to notify you that we will escalate this request to the Right to Information Commission if we do not receive a copy of the promised report from you within seven days of the date of this letter.
Yours in the service of God and Country
OccupyGhana
cc.Ali Mohammed Zakaria, DAG/FAHRD
Auditor-General’s Department, Accra
