Story: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) is said to have failed to submit its accounts to the Auditor General’s Department for auditing since 2019. This was revealed by the Auditor General, Mr. Johnson Akuamoah-Asiedu during an engagement with the Parliament’s Committee on Employment, Social Welfare, and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs)
Speaking to the media on this disturbing development, the Ranking Member for the Committee on Employment, Social Welfare, and State-Owned Enterprises, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Pru East Constituency in the Bono East Region, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, described the situation as appalling.
The Pru East Lawmaker further disclosed that the Auditor General told the Committee that many State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) have also failed to make their books available to the Auditor General’s Department for auditing.
“One of the things running through is the late submission of audited accounts. A number of them do not have their 2018 accounts audited. Others do not have their 2019, 2020, and 2021 accounts audited.
“The disturbing thing is that a number of these are companies and by the Company’s Act latest by June the audited accounts should be ready and this has permeated the whole body fabric. To the extent that even some constitutional bodies like the EC do not have their 2019 audited accounts,” the Ranking Member stated.
He continued: “The Electoral Commission established by law has not published its audited accounts or better still has not submitted its audited account for 2019-2020 to the Auditor General. That is typical of the broad public sector space.”
According to Mr. Donkor, other public sector bodies were even “fighting the Auditor General that they should be allowed to appoint their own auditors.”
“If we remember about 50% of the Ghanaians’ assets have been entrusted in the hands of these State-Owned Enterprises, we see the gravity of the situation we found ourselves in. The Ghanaian State has been culpable, a number of State Enterprises have gone without Board of Directors sometimes for a year or more,” Pru East MP reiterated.
