Politics

CHRAJ c’ssioner urges AG to heed CSOs call

Joseph Whittal, the Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), has backed calls by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) asking the Auditor General (AG) to surcharge and disallow persons and institutions implicated in the report.

“The Commission believes that is the only way the citizenry will benefit from his work and not enough to enable theorganisations through civil society and others go on the street for him to perform his duty,” he contended.

Mr Whittal explained that it was not about reporting but about actual recoveries because citizens wanted him to surcharge and disallow and he should listen to the voice of the people when the recent report cited several public institutions and personalities for engaging in infractions and financial irregularities costing the country several millions of Cedis.

The Coalition for Democratic and Accountable Governance petitioned the Auditor General to surcharge and disallow persons and institutions involved in the report on Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) for 2019, 2020 and 2021 which compelled representatives of civil society groups hit the streets of Accra to pile pressure on Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, the Auditor-General, to exercise his powers of surcharge and disallowance.

They accused him of blatantly refusing to use his surcharge and disallowance powers since 2019, even after appeals and petitions by sections of society for him to do so and their demand followed release of latest report which revealed the country realised infractionsand financial irregularities to the tune of GH¢17.4 billion published in the report for 2021.

According to Mr Whittal, the Auditor-General must heed to the calls of Ghanaianswhen the revelation was shocking to many and the people were questioning why Mr Asiedu did not implement initiative to surcharge and disallow personalities and institutions responsible for lost revenue.

“As a Commission, we have thrown our weight behind calls for the Auditor General to surcharge and disallow culprits and institutions indicted in its report and thus we ask the Auditor-General to heed to the calls of the people.

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