Ghana’s Auditor General to withhold salaries of MMDCEs for refusing to respond to queries

The Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Yaw Domelovo made this known at a public forum held in Accra on Friday, June 14, 2019.

According to him, refusal by MMDCEs to respond to letters from the department is worrying.

“People think we just go into a school or a hospital, and then we write a report, no, it’s a long process. First, we inform you that we are coming, then there is what we call the entrance conference where we tell you the objective, what we are looking for where we tell you the scope and duration,” he said.

He added that “In the course of the execution, we may find something that is not right. Normally we ask you, this payment voucher there is nothing attached to it, where is it, where are the supporting documents if you brought it that ends the case but if you don’t bring it then we request for it officially in writing."

“But if at the end of the day observations remain unanswered or not satisfactorily answered, we issue what we call a management letter, and they will not respond but that culture of impunity is long past because I have instructed my people once you don’t respond we will stop pay salaries as long as you have not responded,” he continued.

Recently, the Auditor-General’s Department of Ghana withheld the salaries of some public servants indefinitely.

The A-G explained that these public servants have failed to respond to audit observations or queries within 30 days at the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

Mr Domelovo then challenged Ghanaians to join the fight against payroll fraud, adding that, it is causing a huge loss to the country.