The Auditor-General, Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, on Tuesday, cut sod for the construction of a regional office complex at Effiduase in the New Juaben North District of the Eastern Region.
It formed part of 18 other regional and district offices to be constructed across the country by the Audit Service.
The first phase of the construction of the 19 offices at the cost of 13 million euros was a loan facility secured by Government of Ghana from the German Government through its KFW Development Bank.
The project would be implemented by Hydro plan, Germany (lead consultant) in association with POLITECNICA and Project Plus Consult (PPC) of Ghana.
The second phase of the project which would include the construction of six additional regional and district offices in the six newly created regions, would also commence after the completion of the first and would be funded by the German Government at the cost of 11.5 million Euros.
Speaking at the sod-cutting ceremony, the Auditor-General, Mr Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, explained that, even though there were 275 administrative districts to be audited by the GAS, they were only present in 76 districts, adding that in these 76 districts, less than 30 per cent of the buildings belonged to them.
He revealed that most of the staff were either perching with district assemblies or were operating from rented private apartments to enable them work.
He noted that the situation compromised the independence of GAS and posed dangerous bait to some staff who may be at risk to compromise their independence.
For his part, the Country Director of KfW Development Bank, who represented the German Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Anndt Wiehierm, said the support was to help the GAS to strengthen their regional and district structures to enable the service to perform its constitutional mandate.
He said the construction of the offices would not only make them independent but will improve the service’s annual audit coverage in the country.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Seth Acheampong, stated that Article 187(2) and Clause (5) of Article 187 of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that GAS played a crucial role in ensuring accountability, value for money and judicious use of public funds and resources and above all fight corruption.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA
