Lens: Exposing ex Auditor General

Exposing Duah-Agyemang, The Lying Auditor General- Part 1

Lens Investigative Desk Report,

President J.A. Kufuor has no moral right to ask the Auditor General to go home. This is because he cannot claim to have been unaware of the false reports the Auditor General has been writing to save his government.

The Auditor General has been presenting patently false audit reports for ages. Lens’ sources within the Audit service reveal that as far back as 1986, a team led by Edward Dua Agyemang, undertook some special investigations. At the end of the exercise, he presented a false report. The Head of Departments suffered unjustly even though they were innocent. When the issue became known to the PNDC, Dua Agyemang was sacked because the Rawlings led government had no stomach for such dubious characters.

The reports were of course rejected. Those officials of the Audit service who exposed those misdeeds have subsequently been victimized by Dua Agyeman when he was appointed Acting Auditor General by the Kufuor regime. One of these is Mr. Robert Ofori.

In 2002 an audit team audited and submitted a report on the Renovations of the Castle, Ministries, Bungalows, K.A Busia’s residence, Women Ministry, the Vice President’s residence, the Speaker’s and other official residences. These renovations were undertaken in 2001 soon after the NPP assumed office.

During the review, various observations (queries) were issued to the public officers involved. The observations were answered and incorporated into the report. The draft report was written and all observations were discussed three times with the then Minister for Works & Housing, his deputy, the Acting Chief Director, all Technical Advisers, the Director, Finance and Administration, the Accountant and others.

The final report was then written incorporating all the comments on the observations and signed by the CGAD/ PWD Branch Head.

Authentic Audit service sources confirm that a copy was forwarded to the Auditor General. It was received by his secretary and given to him. The Auditor General subsequently denied ever seeing the report.

When the report was given to the Minority Leader Alban Bagbin and subsequently published in the press, the Auditor General remarked: “Do you know that I will not be confirmed as the Auditor General by President Kufuor because of this report?”

He made this remark in the presence of CGAD/PWD Branch Head, Director 1 & 2 CGAD and other senior personnel of the Audit Service. He asked the Head of the Central Government Audit Department (CGAD) PWD to make the report an interim one.

But the truth is that it was a final report and not an interim one. How can a report in which observations were issued, answered, discussed, duly replied and all incorporated into final report be described an interim one? The draft report was discussed three times before the final report was finalized. But, Edward Dua Agyeman still turned that finished article into an interim report.

The team protested but eventually had to succumb- the Head CGAD/PWD had no option but to acquiesce under pressure. She later suffered victimization in the hands of the Auditor General (Dua Agyeman)- she was interdicted.

A committee was formed by Dua Agyeman to rewrite the report. Audit service sources disclose that the Chairman of the Committee Mr. P. Arhin stated that he had to exonerate Mr. Kwamina Bartels and Jake Obetsebi Lamptey. This mission, according to our audit sources, was accomplished by the doctoring of the report.

Mr. Arhin retired in 2003 and was given an appointment at the Ministry of Finance & Economic Planning, Controller and Accountant General Department. And of course, having done a wonderful cover up job, Dua Agyemang himself was confirmed by President Kufuor as the nation's Auditor General.