Lack of political will may affect retrieval of ‘stolen’ State cash - Lecturer

A Political Science Lecturer with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Mr. Mohammed Abass, has outlined several factors that could affect the Auditor General’s Department from implementing the orders of the High Court to retrieve stolen monies belonging to the state from individuals and companies.

“All along these powers have been there; it belongs to the Auditor General and up till now they have not been able to effectively utilize it”, he observed.

According to Mr. Mohammed Abass, lack of political will is one of the factors affecting the Auditor General’s Department from carrying outs it’s responsibility of retrieving monies from the people.

“Government has been a problem for us….All the corruptions and bad things we talk about in relation to how our monies are managed come from the government” he stated on Kumasi-based Ultimate FM.

“There have been a serious collaboration between government and the market to perpetrate this. When a government is trying to pursue, then the people try to take advantage of the political polarization “he explained.

Mr. Mohammed Abass also pointed out that the world has moved to technological age and staff of the Auditor General’s Department need to learn to equip themselves with the appropriate human skills and training to match up with the competitive market.

“We are in a highly democratic and technical era where you need the right skills to be able to do this so that when you go to court and have a good case it will not be thrown out”

In a panel discussion, Mr. Mohammed Abass stated the people should not be so much enthused about High Court’s ruling that Auditor General can now retrieve stolen monies belonging to the state from criminals.

“Even though it is a good thing, we should not be enthusiastic about it if we do not implement the ruling. I commend Occupy Ghana for their initative of seeking the clarification from the court”

Mr. Mohammed Abass therefore urged Parliament to eschew oversight of their responsibilities and work to ensure effective implementation of the ruling.