Ghana: Oduro Osae Disagrees With CSOs Over Surcharge, Disallowance Powers of AG

9 September 2022
Ghanaian Times (Accra)

Dr Oduro Osae,the Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), has expressed disagreement with the position of some civil society organisations (CSOs) in relation to the disallowance and surcharge powers of the Auditor-General (A-G).

He indicated that the view that the powers of the Auditor General must be exercised in all cases was extreme.

"CSOs must take a realistic view of the surcharge and disallowance powers of the Auditor-General because it is not all recommendations that will require the Auditor-General to issue disallowance and surcharge but on a case-by-case basis," Dr Osae contended.

On Monday, a group of CSOs picketed at the offices of the Attorney General on the same issue, and OccupyGhana threatened to take legal action against the Auditor-General.

Ace Ankomah, a private legal practitioner and a member of pressure group, OccupyGhana, debunked assertion the Auditor-General should be hailed for being on time with publication of latest audit report since it had to be constantly reminded he owed the citizenry duty of publishing the report after he had submitted it to Parliament.

Dr Osae admonished CSOs and OccupyGhana"if they want to help citizens, they should conduct an analysis of the Auditor-General's report and establish the ones they think are supposed to be disallowed and surcharged for which he has refused to do and present those as credible case to Ghanaians but to say he has failed to exercise his surcharge and disallowance under Article 187 is going too far".

However, Mr Ankomah revealed that the group had to threaten the Auditor-General with legal consequences to compel him to release the 2021 audit report to the public in Augustafter sending it to Parliament for six months which was stated in the Audit Service Act.

According to him, the group had to threaten him before he published the report by writing to him before the report appeared on the website of the Audit Service and should not be praised and apparently,it was sent to Parliament in June.

Mr Ankomahpointed out that the Auditor-General made them aware he did not have evidence to issue disallowance and surcharge and was investigating and gathering evidence before he did them.

Read the original article on Ghanaian Times.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2022 Ghanaian Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.