Report on 31st December movement submitted

The Attorney General’s (A-G) Department is currently scrutinizing the report on the forensic audit conducted into the activities of the 31st December Women’s Movement (DWM).

The audit, ordered by the government, was to unravel any financial malfeasance, including the source of funding of the red-bereted non-governmental organisation, formed and managed by former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and her close associates.

Although Nana Konadu has stated on numerous occasions that the DWM is an NGO and had in recent times distanced it from the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the view is widely held that the DWM at the height of its glory had considerable political influence, which it used to secure foreign loans, some of them government guaranteed.

According to sources close to the A-G’s Department, a docket may soon be opened based on the findings of the forensic audit, which suggest some questions need to be answered. Even though the source would not disclose details of any adverse findings contained in the report, snippets made available to “The Evening News” indicate the existence of serious revelations.

For example, interim audit reports on 68 District Assemblies submitted to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development were littered with grave queries about how the Movement systematically went about obtaining fund from the coffers of the various Assemblies. The report had it that, the Atwima District Assembly for instance, spent millions of cedis on a day’s visit of the DWM President’s to the area.

Numerous instances cited ex-District Chief Executives as having ordered huge sums of state funds to be used to construct Day Care Centres for the Movement. However, before auditors even began work on its accounts, the Movement, protested against what it described as an orchestrated campaign being executed by agents of the ruling party against the movement.

In a statement signed late last year, Mrs Cecilia Johnson, General Secretary of the DWM said since the NPP won power, no fewer than 12 separate government ministries and agencies had attempted to extort information, accounting records and operational documents from its members.

But, if these claims of political harassment as alleged by Mrs Rawlings’ DWM is true or a mere alibi to cover up for its financial malfeasance, public disclosure of the report in the next few weeks would enable the public to judge for themselves.