Gh¢299m Spending Missing From Auditor-General’s Report
By Prince Ahenkorah
A fresh controversy has emerged over Ghana’s COVID-19 expenditure after investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni uncovered a major discrepancy between government spending on fumigation and the amount captured in the Auditor-General’s special audit report.
Awuni says the Ministry of Local Government spent about GH¢299 million on three fumigation contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the expenditure was not reflected in the Auditor-General’s reported figure of GH¢96.3 million for fumigation.
The journalist disclosed the findings during an interview on Joy News on Tuesday.
According to Manasseh Awuni, he contacted the Ghana Audit Service to establish whether the Ministry of Local Government’s COVID-19 expenditure had been audited.
He said the Audit Service confirmed that the ministry was among the institutions covered by the special audit and that its expenditure, including fumigation activities, had been audited.
He explained that the Audit Service provided him with an appendix listing the institutions covered by the audit.
Mr Awuni said the Audit Service also told him that the omission of the Ministry of Local Government’s fumigation expenditure from the published figure did not mean the expenditure had not been audited.
The explanation, however, raised further questions for the investigative journalist because the Auditor-General’s report contained a specific figure for COVID-19 fumigation expenditure.
“If you audited this ministry, which spent 299 million Ghana cedis on fumigation, they gave you the figures, you say you audited, why didn’t you capture it?” he questioned.
Mr Awuni said the audit was not solely intended to identify wrongdoing but was also expected to provide a comprehensive account of COVID-19 funds received and spent by the state.
He therefore questioned whether the report provided a complete picture of COVID-19 expenditure if significant spending by some ministries was not reflected in the figures presented.
The revelations have triggered calls for further investigation, with Majority Chief Whip and South Dayi MP Rockson-Nelson Dafeamekpor saying arrests should follow if the allegations are established.
Hon. Dafeamekpor described the alleged concealment of material audit findings, if proven, as potentially one of the major public finance scandals of the Fourth Republic.
He argued that the Auditor-General has a legal responsibility to report the findings of a special audit to Parliament and should not conceal material information.
“If what Manasseh Azure Awuni is further revealing is what is actually the case, then arguably we have the greatest public finance scandal of maybe the Fourth Republic,” he said.
Hon. Dafeamekpor said evidence presented by Mr Awuni appeared to suggest that the Ministry of Local Government and other institutions had been audited, but that some material findings and recommendations were not included in the report submitted to Parliament.
He subsequently called for immediate arrests if the allegations were confirmed.
“If this is really the issue tonight, then people should be, the arrests should be happening before daybreak tomorrow, because this cannot be countenanced under any circumstances in this country,” he said.
However, Vice Chairperson of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee and Mpraeso MP Davis Ansah Opoku has urged caution, saying the allegations do not, at this stage, provide sufficient grounds for arrests.
Ansah Opoku said the immediate issue should be for the Audit Service to explain why expenditure by the Ministries of Local Government and Transport was not captured in the relevant sections of the report.
He also disputed the impression that the Auditor-General’s GH¢96.3 million figure represented the entire amount spent on COVID-19 fumigation nationwide.
According to him, the GH¢96.3 million figure related specifically to a Ghana Education Service activity and was captured in the audit report under that expenditure.
“It turns out that that isn’t the case. I mean, the GH¢96.3 million was for a specific Ghana Education Service activity, and it was captured under the report,” he said.
Ansah Opoku acknowledged that the report did not provide extensive details on fumigation expenditure by the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Transport.
He nevertheless rejected calls for arrests based solely on the discrepancies identified so far. “But this does not call for arrest. We do not need to arrest people at this point,” he said.
Former Auditor-General Daniel Domelevo has also called for an explanation of the discrepancy.
He has suggested that the situation could point either to information not being provided to auditors or to shortcomings in the conduct or reporting of the audit.
The controversy centres on the special audit of COVID-19 expenditure commissioned in 2022.
Mr Awuni’s investigation has raised questions about the completeness of the Auditor-General’s account of COVID-19 fumigation expenditure, with documents from the Ministries of Education, Local Government and Transport reportedly indicating that at least GH¢780 million was spent on fumigation activities.
Mr Ansah Opoku said Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee should first obtain clarification from the Audit Service and establish the actual figures involved.
“What we need to find out from the Auditor-General, and from the Audit Service, is why you omitted that of Local Government and that of Transport?” he said.
“What are the figures? Present them to us, and we will audit.” he reiterated.