{"id":400203,"date":"2018-02-10T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2018-02-10T08:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=400203"},"modified":"2018-02-10T11:10:47","modified_gmt":"2018-02-10T11:10:47","slug":"stop-leaking-reports-adjaho-to-audit-service-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/02\/stop-leaking-reports-adjaho-to-audit-service-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop leaking reports – Adjaho to Audit Service staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
The immediate past Speaker of Parliament, Edward Doe Adjaho, has called on staff of the Audit Service to resist the temptation of leaking reports of the Auditor General which are yet to be scrutinized and approved by Parliament.<\/p>\n
While emphasizing that the auditors are fallible hence the need for parliament’s rigorous scrutiny to ensure the information provided is accurate, he said the “disturbing development\u201d of leaking the report undermines the power of Parliament.<\/p>\n
Speaking at a book launch \u201cDestiny and Politics; A Biography in Honour of Samuel Sallas-Mensah,” Doe Adjaho mentioned that the findings from the Audit Service are not sacrosanct hence the possibility of it being challenged.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy understanding of the law and best parliamentary practice is that prior to publication, audit reports must be laid in parliament, these reports are subsequently referred to the public accounts committee for consideration and reported to the whole house. Yet in recent times, we read in the media about reports, but when you try to get a copy from parliament you\u2019re told it has not been laid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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“The truth is that, auditors also do make mistakes. My position is that, we should at all cost resist the temptation to leak audit reports which may not necessarily be final on the matter before the reports are laid in the House… Interestingly, these reports are generating public discourse ahead of the consideration and examination of parliament. This is wrong and impugns on the work of the public of the public accounts committee,” he added.<\/p>\n
The 2016 Auditor General\u2019s report on MDAs, although yet to be laid before Parliament, is within the public domain and has generated a lot of public discussions over the past few days. The Auditor General, Daniel Domelevo, has also made some public utterances about the report including suggestions that he be given prosecutorial powers<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n But Doe Adjaho warned that there could be dire consequences when documents are leaked.<\/p>\n He however called on the Auditor General to be firm and \u201cplay by the rules\u201d even in the face of public pressure and political enthusiasm.<\/p>\n In attendance at the book launch were some past and present Members of parliaments as well as members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) including Former Finance Minister Seth Tepker, Moses Asaga and Rashid Pelpuo.<\/p>\n Doe Adjaho, who wrote the foreword to the book and also formally launched the biography, described Mr. Samuel Sallas-Mensah as a “good friend and former colleague and one of the distinguished and finest members of parliament in the 4th<\/sup> republic who served Ghana dutifully”.<\/p>\n