By Jonathan Thompson
Lack of internal audit control and risk management in public sector institutions have been identified as contributing to corruption and accountability challenges in terms of public expenditure.
This was stated at an Accountability Forum in Accra, organised by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII).
The Head of Project Coordination and Monitoring Unit at the Internal Audit Agency, Alhassan Fuseini, said the Agency’s checks over the years have revealed that most public sector institutions, especially in the health and education sectors, are not making judicious use of their internal auditing facilities and mechanisms.
The situation, he noted, gives rise to the ghost names and other expenditures that are unaccounted for.
He said the government’s inability to review the IAA Act of 2003, coupled with the low remuneration of IAA staff, ”is not helping the IAA to discharge its oversight and monitoring mandate”.
The Ghana Integrity Initiative’s annual Accountability Forum focused on” Promoting Service Delivery through Social Accountability”, with emphasis on the Health and Education sectors.
Participants discussed issues like poor infrastructure, delayed governmental funding, and misappropriation of resources in public sector health and educational institutions. It emerged at the forum that such challenges are not reported because people are afraid to speak out due to threats on their lives or fear of losing their jobs.
The Head of Project Coordination and Monitoring Unit of the Internal Audit Agency, Alhassan Fuseini, said the Agency, which is mandated to check such things, also has challenges hindering its operations. He stressed the need to amend the IAA Act 2003, to reflect modern trends.
Mr. Fuseini, however, said some of the challenges at the IAA are being addressed by the government to make it operate efficiently.
Other speakers at the forum, including the Executive Director of Education Watch, Kofi Asare, and the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health, Oswald Owusu-Akuokom, urged stakeholders in the health and education sectors to be bold and speak out against corrupt practices.
This will contribute to zero tolerance for corruption in Ghana.
