Randy Abbey clashes with Fuseini Issah over A-G publishing COVID-19 expenditure audit report

Broadcaster Randy Abbey has clashed with the former New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Okaikwei North, Fuseini Issah, over the decision by the Auditor-General to publish an audit report of the government's COVID-19 expenditure.

Speaking during a panel discussion on Good Morning Ghana, on Friday, February 17, 2023, Fuseini Issah agreed with an assessment of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Godfred Dame, that the report should not have been published until the appropriate committees in the Parliament of Ghana have looked at it.

He argued that the Constitution indicates that the audit report can be made public after the committees in Parliament are done working on it.

“Article 187(6) says that Parliament shall debate the report of the Auditor-General and appoint a where necessary, in the public interest, a committee to deal with any matters arising from it. So, it is the case that the Constitution demands that all reports generated by the Auditor-General are presented to Parliament.

“And what will constitute the presentation of a report to Parliament? Is it the case of physically going to Parliament to present a hard copy to whoever is in charge? Is it the case that presentation of the document will constitute the speaker coming to the plenary and appropriately laying the document, recommending it to a committee, a committee working on it and presenting it back to the plenary?

“Presenting a document to Parliament is not just physical presentation; it goes on further,” he said.

But Dr. Randy Abbey, the host of the programme, said Fuseini Issah’s opinion was completely wrong.

He said that the only obligation of the Auditor-General is to ensure that the audit reports of his outfit are given to Parliament and he has no business waiting for committees of the House to look at it before it is published.

The broadcaster added that the Constitution mandates the Auditor-General to publish his Audit Reports as soon as it is presented to Parliament.

Background

The Attorney-General, Godfred Dame, in an opinion regarding the publication on the website of the Auditor Service of an audit into the Government’s Covid-19 transactions, advised the Auditor-General to pull down the report and publish it after it has been debated by Parliament and referred to an appropriate committee of Parliament in accordance with article 187(6) of the Constitution.

“The constitutional duty of the Auditor-General to submit his reports to Parliament and Parliament’s consequential obligation to debate and scrutinize same will be ‘grossly prejudiced’ by prior publication of the report,” parts of the opinion by the Minister for Justice, read.

Watch the clash in the video below:

You can also watch this episode of People & Places on GhanaWeb TV below:



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