The Auditor General has warned he will not tolerate acts by the public and civil service officials that impede his work.
Daniel Domelevo insists these officials cannot determine when they want to release information or dictate to him when they are ready to be audited.
Quoting the 1992 Constitution and Section 33 of the Audit Service Act, Mr Domelevo said it has a mandate to audit public institutions, adding, it is “criminal” for any official to deny his office any document.
Section 33 of the Act states, any person who;
(a) fails to produce for inspection by the Auditor-General or otherwise fails to give the Auditor-General access to any book, record, return or other document relating or relevant to any account to be audited by the Auditor-General, when so requested by the Auditor-General; or
(b) fails to keep proper books of account or proper records in relation thereto when so required by the provisions of any enactment; or
(c) gives to the Auditor-General any information which he knows to be false or which he has no reason to believe to be true; or
(d) wilfully suppresses any information required by the Auditor-General in the performance of his functions under this Act or any other enactment; or
(e) obstructs the Auditor-General in the performance of his functions under this Act or any other enactment,
commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not less than 500 penalty units or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years or to both.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsfile programme, Saturday, Mr Domelevo said people have become so used to the wrong behaviors they sometimes think it is right.
“Some misbehaviors continue for a very long time and people think it is normal and it becomes law…” he said, adding, “people have done it with impunity over the past and gotten away with it. In fact, some actually stop audit and say we are not ready, wait for us, when we are ready we will do the audit.
Daniel Domelevo said in February next year his outfit will launch the 2017 audit and let Ghanaians know the dos and don’ts of an audit.
“I will not tolerate that kind situation where officers say I am not ready for audits…wait for the next two months or the record is not going to be available for the next two weeks. We must get the information” he said.
The Auditor General said they will cite any official who flouts the Audit Act.
It is our constitutional right to have information and a duty to audit the civil and public services, he added.
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