The Auditor-General, Richard Quartei Quartey, has recommended the prosecution of various officials of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) indicted in his 2014 audit report for various financial and legal infractions.
Whereas just 195 out of the 216 assemblies submitted their books for auditing, 21 assemblies failed to comply with the legal requirement.
Nkwanta South assembly defaulted for 3 consecutive years, and the Jasikan and Kadjeibi Districts defaulting for 2 consecutive years each.
But even before the report could be effectively examined by Parliament and the recommendations executed, Head of the Local Government Service, Callistus Mahama has shot to the defense of the indicted assemblies.
Speaking with Bernard Avle on the Ghana Report Show, Viasat One, the head of the local government service said elected assembly members should be blamed for the financial infractions.
The Auditor General explained that he appointed assembly members to oversee the duties of the various assemblies in a bid to ensure checks and balances in the system but they have failed to deliver on their mandate.
“The law requires that every assembly should have audit report implementation committee and the general assembly is suppose to oversee that but in reality, it is not working.”
The Auditor General, in its report pointed out two officers; Coordinating Director and the Finance Managers for neglecting their duties.
Asked why these persons who were overseeing financial rot at their various institutions had not yet been dealt with he indicated that these officers will be made to answer for their actions when they are called at the local level.
“The institutional and legal arrangements are there to deal with such people.
There are two ways of exerting accountability; one is what the Auditor General has done, and all those, that is the vertical one. The one that is even more effective is what is at the local level, the general assembly or the district assembly.”
