The Auditor-General of Ghana, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, has issued a strong call for increased investment in infrastructure to safeguard the independence of the Audit Service, warning that its continued reliance on government institutions and assemblies, many of which are also its auditees, poses a risk to effective oversight.
He cautioned that housing auditors within the offices of the very entities they audit creates undue familiarity, potentially compromising their independence and weakening efforts to scrutinise and protect the public purse.
Mr. Asiedu made the remarks at the commissioning of the newly constructed Kumasi Regional Office Complex, where he urged the government to prioritise the provision of adequate and independent office spaces to empower staff to carry out their mandate with integrity and efficiency.
“Every audit staff member is very familiar with the challenges of accommodation in the service. As I speak to you, for all the districts that we are present administratively, we occupy just about 30%.
“In other words, the 30% offices are what we can claim to be audit service offices. For the remaining 70%, we are accommodated by the various assemblies, and clearly, you can see the challenge this situation poses.
“Because we are accommodated by the assemblies, they are the very auditees that we audit. And imagining an audit service staff going to the assembly to ask for furniture, sometimes we go and ask for ice water and imagine how our independence is likely to be impaired because of the familiarisation of our auditees.”
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