Former Minister of Local Government, Hon Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, has expressed concern over the recent trends in governance and administration of Ghana as a State.
The experienced lawmaker speaking of the latest revelations made by the Auditor General on government expenses during the covid-19 period believes Ghana has lost its sense of political decency and constitutionalism.
In an interview on the Happy Morning Show with Samuel Eshun, Mr. Adjei-Darko reiterated that the repetition of corrupt acts by some government officials as revealed in both current and past administrations confirm the level of lawlessness in Ghana. He noted that the country has little or no regard for its constitution.
“Yes, the focus is on the covid expenditure but that is one aspect of the whole issue. Generally, every year, these infractions come and then we talk, discuss and let them go. The issue is why do we allow these things to roll out the way they do?” he quizzed.
“When you look at the constitution, it says that the Auditor-General is supposed to give an audit of the previous year within six months and submit to Parliament. That means everything that happened in the affairs of government in 2022 by June 2023 the report from the auditor general needs to be in Parliament. Unfortunately, at the onset of the constitutional rule, whether it has to be the delay with the appointment of the Auditor General or we are not working with the constitution, the report piles up and before the full report eventually comes out, the incumbent government would have left office,” he added.
Hon Kwadwo Adjei-Darko considers that the chairmanship of the Public Accounts Committee has lost its legitimacy as he said, “The reason the constitution framers instructed that the chairman specifically for the Public Accounts Committee should come from the opposition is to ensure thorough and adequate auditing of the ruling government and its agencies. Unfortunately, the way we’ve been operating currently, the incumbent party could have left power, be in opposition and have a representative chair the committee while overseeing the reports on is administration.”
“Now that the report is here, we talk and debate about it then that’s all. The constitution also indicated that after the Parliamentary debate and for the sake of public interest in the report, a committee can be set up to investigate the issues but I don’t believe they have in this era. After the public accounts committee, it goes to parliament and after debate that’s all. Everyone gets away with whatever.”
The latest Auditor-General’s report has disclosed that the government spent ¢10 billion of monies mobilised for Covid-19 activities on budget support.
According to the A-G, a total of ¢21,844,189,185.24 was mobilised for the fight against the pandemic. However, out of this amount, only ¢11,750,683,059.11 was spent on curbing the spread of the virus.
The A-G said the rest, per its records, was used for budget support.
By: Jude Tackie
