it will not condone any pressure<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0from any group or individual.<\/p>\n[contextly_sidebar id=”sIWnFt7K5ttKJFJNUgIgYm9AiC7IUYkF”]\u201cThis office wishes to draw your attention to Article 187 (7) (a) of the Constitution, which states that the Auditor General shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority in the performance of his function,\u201d stated the acting Auditor General, Richard A. Asiedu in a press release.<\/p>\n
He also indicated that the they will study the letter issued by the group and respond appropriately.<\/p>\n
But speaking at a forum jointly organized by the group and IMANI Ghana, a private legal practitioner and member of Occupy Ghana, Ace Ankomah insisted that the Auditor General is compelled under the law to pursue the matter as requested by OccupyGhana.<\/p>\n
“If your independence was absolute, subsection 8 would not have given the President the power to instruct you,” he said.<\/p>\n
He said the\u00a0AG \u00a0quoted article 187 to support it stance but according to him, Article 23 stated emphatically clearly that the AG is either an Administrative body and official and “shall act fairly, reasonably and comply with the requirement imposed on them by law and persons aggrieved by the exercise of such acts and decisions shall have the right to seek redress in a court or other tribunals.”<\/p>\n
OccupyGhana also said they believe even government supports their bid to demand accountability form the Auditor General.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter our letter left, we were initially amused at the push back from some government officials as if we have attacked government and we haven\u2019t but I want to commend some government officials, first is the Minister of Communication, Omane Boamah. He appeared on Randy Abbeys programme the next day and says government agrees with us and the letter. The next is Minister for Sports, Mahama Ayariga on News file who says they agree with us as well; the auditor general must answer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yesterday in the budget speech, paragraph 142, in 2015 – \u00a0‘the government will implement initiatives to enforce the recommendations of the Auditor General\u2019s report. This will involve sanctioning and possible prosecution of persons indicted by the report.’ This is the first time that this has shown up in any budget statement. This morning\u2026 the minister confirmed that this insertion in his budget statement came from the work of occupy Ghana,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
He further responded to the Auditor General by saying that “don\u2019t bother educating us, issue your disallowances today, from 2008 to date. Issue it so that at least time stops running against that portion of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also urged government to takes steps to prosecute such corrupt officials who have misused public funds.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana<\/p>\n