31st DWM audit on hold

The forensic audit into the activities of the 31st December Women?s Movement (DWM) is currently on hold. It has been suspended because the Movement finds it almost religiously impossible to make its financial statements available. But according to Mr. Edward Dua Agyeman the Acting Auditor ?General, there is no cause for alarm.

Auditor Dua Agyeman told the Network Herald in his office last Friday that the he has no cause to be alarmed because even though they cannot furnish his office with its financial statement, the finance department of the red beret Non-Governmental Organisation ?has been very co-operative since the commencement of the audit. In fact they call me on phone to tell me about what is happening?, he said confidently.

The audit was ordered by the government following repeated calls from to a cross section of the populace for an in-depth analysis of the sources and mode of disbursement of the perceived huge sums of money the Movement was operating with.

The Movement headed by former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, once a bastion of power for politically motivated women who used association with Nana Konadu to position themselves is almost non-existent, barely two years after the fall of the government that gave it its powers.

Mr. E. Dua Agyeman denied media allegations that the forensic audit has already been completed and the report submitted to the Attorney General?s Department for scrutiny. As to whether all those persons who were seconded to the movement from his outfit had reverted to post, he said, that is history because it could it could happen only in the administration of the NDC government.

He added that: ?Immediately after the change of government they all came back. Not here alone some were seconded to the Movement from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Ghana Education Service (GES) and from the health sector.?

And in a very unrelated development, Mr. Dua Agyeman had told a press conference last Friday that a thorough audit of Government payroll involving all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) has revealed that over 3.6 billion cedis is paid to ?Ghost names? each month.

That since the beginning of the exercise, three thousand two hundred names have been submitted for deletion from Government payroll. Also, two thousand seven hundred names have been duplicated but that has also been identified and earmarked for deletion.

He said seven thousand one hundred and seven persons over the statutory pension age of 60 years are still on the active payroll whiles 1.6billion cedis in unauthorised salaries have been retrieved and banked .The latest scrutiny has ensured that about C3.8bn has been saved out of the deleted names.

In all, a total of about 7.6billion cedis have been saved during the exercise, which began in phases. He disclosed that the Audit Service has set up a permanent Payroll Audit Department to sustain the exercise.