Auditor General to begin audit of road construction projects –
The Auditor-General’s Department shall soon begin the auditing of various road construction projects to ensure value for money in the country.
“We see our roads been constructed and within a year it is spoilt. We will go after them to find out if the right thing was done. You cannot sign a contract that says you are building 200 kilometres and on the ground, the actual work is 170 kilometres, Mr Daniel Yaw Domelovo, the Auditor-General, said.
Speaking at the launch of 2018 Audits in Accra, he explained that the department was poised to ensure that the right procurement processes were followed by government agencies.
“We have the required expertise in building and road construction so they will be provided with the necessary tools to test the quality of the construction. They will also verify the dimensions of the project on the site and compare it to the original designs,” Mr Domelovo said.
He said infractions of public procurement were too many and that some government agencies were not conforming to the public financial management.
“Government was losing a lot of revenue. People are paying money but it is not getting to the government. This will include forming a partnership with the Ghana Revenue Authority and as well making sure that revenue collector who diverts funds would be dealt with appropriately by law,” he said.
Touching on the current payroll audit, Mr Domelovo said the findings were serious and shocking adding that, “As a country, if we can do that to ourselves …you will hear about the report soon”.
He said the team has currently finished Central and Western regions and would move to Volta Region to continue the enumeration.
“Those not entitled to earn but are earning on the payroll will be handed over to the Special Prosecutor for prosecution. If you think your name has been inserted on the payroll wrongly, you have to run and purge yourself by quickly refunding that money to the government,” Mr Domelovo said.
He said heads of departments would be held accountable for ghost names on their payrolls.
Mrs Linda Ofori-Kwafo, Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative, said over the years has built its capacity towards contributing effectively towards public financial management processes.
She said a recent study on audit recommendation implementation between 2009 to 2013 revealed that of some selected MMDA in the country, only 15 per cent had the records to that they implemented the recommendations.
Mrs Ofori-Kwafo said the study identified record keeping was a major challenge for MMDS and suggested the establishment of information management and retrieval system to address the issue.
Source: GNA