Ghanaians urged to demand greater accountability

Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, former chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, has urged Ghanaians to demand accountability of the disbursement of the country’s financial resources.

He warned that the country was heading for serious crisis of incessant social unrest if care was not taken to reduce the wanton dissipation of financial resources by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), as had been reported by the Auditor-General (AG) over the years.

Speaking at a day’s sensitization workshop in Kumasi, on the findings and recommendations of the AG on the public accounts of Ghana, from 2009 to 2011, Mr Kan-Dapaah, stated that democracy without accountability was inimical for peace and stability in the country.

The workshop, which was organized by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), was to disseminate the AGs reports and create awareness on its recommendations for a deeper understanding, which would elicit incisive inputs to efforts at reducing corruption in the country.

Budget, Finance and social welfare officers from the Ejisu-Juaben, Ejura-Sekyeredumasi, Asante Mampong, Sekyere Central, Kwabre East and Asante Akim Central municipalities, participated in the workshop. Mr Kan-Dapaah said the rampant reported cases of corrupt practices in the public sector had started agitating most of the country’s youth and this could spark massive uproars.

He called for concerted effort from all well-meaning Ghanaians to rise and hold public office holders accountable to stem an imminent violent youthful reaction, which could disturb the peace or mar the beauty of the country’s democratic dispensation.

Mr Kan-Dapaah said he found it curious that since 2003 when the current financial administration Act was passed, no Ministry, Department or Agency has been able to prepare its annual financial statement, describing the situation as “scandalous”.

He said lack of effective accounting systems in the MDAs has caused this and stressed the need to build the capacities of all finance and accounting officers in public organizations to keep them abreast with public financial laws and regulations to ensure competency.

Mr Vitus Azeem, Executive Director of GII, advocated the judicious and efficient use of the country’s limited resources for the benefit of majority of the people.

He said the growing cases of misapplication and malfeasance published by the AG in its annual reports should be a great source of worry to all Ghanaians and called on the participants to spearhead the fight against corruption in the country.