Corruption

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IEA Ghana The Role Of Parliament In The Fight Against <strong>Corruption</strong> This supervisory role is unfortunately ignored by Parliament. No site visits are undertaken and no reliable financial data are made available to Parliament for them to monitor. By far the most significant oversight responsibility of Parliament occurs at the fourth phase of the Budget Cycle where the Auditor General conducts an independent audit of the accounts of the MDAs and the Consolidated Fund to assure citizens that the MDAs have expended funds in accordance with the Appropriation Act and also in compliance with the financial laws of the country. The Auditor General submits his Report to Parliament and draws Parliament's attention to any irregularities in the accounts audited as well as any other matter which in his opinion ought to be brought to the notice of Parliament.The interrogation of the Auditor General's report by Parliament concludes the audit process and is therefore part of the entire audit process initiated by the Auditor General. The practice has been for the Auditor General to submit his reports six months after the year end to Parliament. When laid on the floor of Parliament the reports are referred to the Public Accounts Committee - a Standing Committee of Parliament. The Public Accounts Committee begins its interrogation by inviting the Auditor General to take the committee through the Report. Specifically, he briefs the committee on why the Audit was undertaken, what the Audit Objectives were, the Audit Methodology, the Audit Findings and Recommendations. This is to give members of the committee a thorough understanding of the Audit Report. Subsequent to this, witnesses from the MDAs are invited to meet the committee for a Public Hearing which is normally televised live essentially to name and shame persons cited for financial malfeasance in the audit reports.The Committee subsequently submits a report to the Plenary where the report is adopted by the House. The oversight role of Parliament, in this phase has not been without its own challenges. By the nature of its work, the work of the committee must be conducted without partisan politics. Although, most of the reports are discussed without partisan politics, the Committee has not been able to avoid partisanship in discussing politically tainted reports thus defeating the purpose of the work of the Committee. Another major challenge has been the unwillingness of the House leadership to lay reports of the Committee which are perceived to be embarrassing to the government in the house for debate. The result is that some reports are kept until after the four year term of the Parliament when, under the Standing Orders of Parliament, such reports can no longer be laid. The Institute of Economic Affairs, Accra Ghana 18
The Role Of Parliament In The Fight Against <strong>Corruption</strong> IEA Ghana Audit recommendations must necessarily be implemented otherwise no benefit accrues from the whole audit process. The Financial Administration Act and the Audit Service Act provide two mechanisms to ensure the implementation of audit recommendations. The first is the Audit Report Implementation Committee (ARIC) which was created under Section 30(1) of the Audit Service Act, (Act 584) and requires all institutions subject to auditing by the Auditor General including MDAs and MMDAs to set up an ARIC to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of Audit Reports. ARIC is therefore set up as a statutory and high level independent governance committee in the PFM system. The Act requires ARIC to comprise of: • The Governing Board or Council of that Institution, Department, Body or Organisation where such Council or Board exist by law, or • A Ministerial Committee from Ministries Departments or Agencies of the Central Government, or • A Special Committee of the MMDAs Although, the Act came into service in the year 2000, it has been observed that up to the year 2012 there was no functional ARIC in the MDAs or MMDAs. Secondly, the composition of the ARIC is problematic, in that it comprises key officials of the institution against whom adverse findings had been made. The second institution that was charged with the implementation of audit findings was the Financial Administration Court. The Financial Administration Court (FAC) which was established under the Financial Administration Act 2003 (Act 654) was to be made up of a High Court Judge, a Chartered Accountant and a Management Accountant or a Valuer. The Court's jurisdiction was to enforce the recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee on the Auditor General's Reports. Again, this Court has not been set up because of the practical difficulty to appoint non-lawyers such as a Chartered or Management accountant as a high court judge. The inability of the Chief Justice to constitute the Financial Administration Court in pursuant to the Financial Administration Act has been severely criticized, in my opinion, without any justification. A panel of a high court judge and accountants is not needed to handle the recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee. The Fast Track Financial High Court that opened for business on March 3, 2014 can handle all such cases speedily. The Institute of Economic Affairs, Accra Ghana 19
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