Posts

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Fiscal Decentralisation: Domelevo calls for district/regional budgets

Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo, a former Auditor-General, has advocated the creation of district and regional budgets as part of efforts to ensure effective fiscal decentralisation.

That, he said, would ensure each district and region received its fair share of the national cake.

“I think over-centralisation is the major contributor to the corruption that we have in our country,” Mr Domelevo said in a virtual presentation at the maiden Domelevo Accountability Annual Lectures held in Accra.

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Investigative journalist urges anti-corruption institutions to strengthen collaboration

Mr Manasseh Azure Awuni, an investigative journalist, has urged anti-corruption institutions to strengthen collaboration with one another in the fight against corruption.

He said the agents of corruption operate in networks, and therefore, those fighting corruption must also collaborate in order to make the needed impact.

“There have been times anti-corruption agencies are used by the political authority to harass others. What is even strange is that ant graft institutions sometimes fight each other,” Mr Awuni stated in his address at the maiden Domelevo Accountability Lectures 2021.

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I never undermined Domelevo – Akufo-Addo to CSOs

“The questions regarding Mr Domelevo’s date of birth which formed the recent basis for the President’s letter were not handled in accordance with the Constitutional directive in Article 23. The actions of the office of the President and the Audit Service affirm our belief that Mr Domelevo has been unfairly targeted,” the Coalition’s Spokesperson said.

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SONA 2021: GII asks government to show commitment to fight against corruption

The Ghana Integrity Initiative has asked government to show more commitment to the fight against corruption to build trust and public confidence.

“We have not seen much leadership in the fight against corruption in the country. We need to see bold initiatives from government through effective preventive mechanism against corruption and administrative sanction to deter potential corrupt officials”.

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CSOs urge Supreme Court to deal with two suits

…Encourage Domelevo to go to CHRAJ

The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations Against Corruption has requested the Supreme Court of Ghana to determine two cases pending before it on the constitutionality of the Auditor General’s forced ‘accumulated leave’ by President Akufo-Addo.

The group contends that the crux of the issues raised in the two suits are relevant regardless of the current state of affairs; that is the forced retirement of Auditor General Daniel Yaw Domelevo. 

“The suits border on the broader issues of whether or not a President could exercise administrative authority over Independent Constitutional Bodies (ICBs). Therefore, it is important for the Supreme Court to deal with these suits expeditiously to prevent any such actions by a future President,” said Dr. Kojo Pumpuni Asante, Director, Advocacy and Policy Engagement at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana).

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Audit Service Board raises issue with Domelevo’s retirement date

The tussle between the Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo, and the Audit Service Board has reached a crescendo, with the board writing to inform the appointing authority, the President, that the former has reached retirement age.

This follows the board’s alleged findings that Mr Domelevo had changed his date of birth on the records of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) from June 1, 1960 to June 1, 1961.

“Records made available to the board indicate that your date of retirement was 1st June 2020 and as far as the Audit Service is concerned you are deemed to have retired.

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Auditor General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, reports to work after long leave

The Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo, has reported to work after the 167-day accumulated leave.

Mr Domelevo proceeded on a compulsory leave on July 1, 2020.

He showed up at the office of the Audit Service headquarters in Accra at 8:20am amid some misunderstanding with the Audit Service Board.

The board, in a letter addressed to the President has stated that Mr Domelevo reached his retirement age on June 1, 2020.

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Assemblies’ Common Fund rip-off rises to GH¢124.82 million

Some officials of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies mismanaged funds and resources of their assemblies to a financial value of approximately GH¢124.82 million in 2019, the Auditor-General has revealed.

The financial irregularities for 2019 represent a 3.53% rise from the 2018 figure of approximately GH¢120.56 million. In nominal terms, the increase is approximately GH¢4.2m. 

“The findings once again showed lack of commitment on the part of the management of Assemblies in the implementation and enforcement of my audit recommendations towards mitigating infringements of the laws. I also attributed the situation to non-imposition of sanctions to minimise the violations,” says the Auditor-General in a letter transmitting his latest report to the Speaker of Parliament.

Comparative irregularities from 2015 to 2019 financial years
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Internal Audit Agency Swoops on MDAs

According to Mrs Juliet Aboagye-Wiafe, President of the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Ghana, the work of internal auditors facilitate good corporate governance and compliance. These in turn ‘provide strong inputs for organisational or business sustainability and prevent corporate scandals, fraud and failures.’

Mrs Aboagye-Wiafe reportedly said this at the IIA’s 2019 Annual National Internal Audit and Governance Conference.

In June 2019, Auditor-General Mr. Daniel Yao Domelevo also stated that it is better to prevent corruption. Therefore, making internal auditors independent is one of the control mechanisms that government can put in place to prevent corruption. He even suggested to the Presidency to consider the inclusion of the Director General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) in Government’s Economic Management Team to help control expenditure within certain strategic sectors.  He took the view that internal auditors would provide timely information on lapses within the Public Financial Management system to enable the E. M. T. take judicious measures to address identified inefficiencies.

In spite of these authorities speaking favourably on internal auditors, Corruption Watch has come across cases from its investigations in which some internal auditors have allegedly been professionally abused and harassed for refusing to be compromised.

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CHRAJ urges Domelevo to file complaint over forced proceed-on-leave directive

Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice has described as unfortunate the Executive directive to the Auditor-General, Daniel Domelevo, to proceed on leave.

The comments by Joseph Whittal on the sidelines of the launch of the Citizens Anti-Corruption Manifesto last week adds to the plethora of criticisms that has hit the presidential directive forcing the Auditor-General to take his accumulated 167 days’ leave.

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