Fighting corruption is dangerous – Auditor-General

Auditor-General Daniel Domelovo has said that it is more dangerous to fight corruption because it involves exposing oneself to danger.

It is however inevitable and very necessary that it is done, he maintained, as it keeps the country sane.

“We need to fight corruption not because fighting corruption is an easy thing, I usually say fighting corruption is dangerous. Anyone who fights corruption is exposing himself to danger. And corruption will fight you back any day in whatever form it can. So that’s why many people, don’t like to fight corruption because they don’t want the fight that corruption will bring to them. But it is more dangerous not to fight corruption because it will finish us. So when you weigh what happens if we fight corruption as against our fight against corruption I think we have to fight corruption”, he said.

Speaking at the OccupyGhana vrs Attorney-General Anniversary, Vice President Mahammudu Bawumia noted that the occupyghana case was a decisive moment in our national effort to compact corruption. Reiterating that fighting corruption is like fighting ‘demons and principalities’ and though it cannot be eradicated, corruption can be curtailed.

“I made a statement that when you’re fighting corruption it’s almost like fighting demons and principalities. that it keeps coming back. When you think you’ve even killed it, it will raise its head again.”



He said that the work of the auditor-general cannot be viewed in isolation and that tackling corruption requires the combined effort of Ghanaians.

“The ability of the Auditor-General and his readiness to issue such charges against individuals and institutions and the disallowance of expenses are powerful tools in the fight against willful misspending and theft by public officials. But the work of the auditor-general cannot be viewed in isolation, tackling corruption is a combined effort of state institutions and the public in the guise of civil society, the media and individuals.”

Dr Bawumia added that in order to fight corruption effectively, efficient institutions and systems must be put in place.
“What matters in the fight against corruption and in the protection of the public purse is efficient or effective institutions and systems.”

According to the founding member of the OccupyGhana Ace Ankomah, the fight between OccupyGhana versus Attorney-General was hard but they succeeded.

He however, urged government to “resource the agencies and enforce the laws in the country and Ghana will be victorious.

“Ghana got us here, truly what lies ahead is more than what lie behind but we solider on. It is said that real super men and women do not leap over buildings in one single bound, they take small determined steps consistently overtime. And so step by step, little by little… we will get there. The final words in the book called Ghana Incorporated, should read and in the end Ghana won. Ghana has to sing the song of DJ Khaled which says ‘All I do is win win win no matter what, got the future of my mind I can never get enough, every time I step up in the building everybody hands go up and they stay there’ because Ghana has to win. Resource the agencies, enforce the law, then Ghana will win.



Background

On June 14th, 2017, the Supreme Court granted all the reliefs sought by pressure group, OccupyGhana, in respect of the Auditor-General's powers of disallowance and surcharges.

According to the Court, the Auditor-General must issue disallowance and surcharges in respect of all state monies found to have been expended contrary to law.

Pressure group OccupyGhana waged war against the lethargic attitude of Auditors-General whom it accused of not applying the law and protecting the public purse.

The Auditor-General every year, makes serious findings of many cases of misapplication of immense amounts by public office holders.

Sometimes the public officers make admissions before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament but none is ever held accountable or punished.

OccupyGhana argued strenuously that the Auditor-General has the power to disallow expenditures which are not in conformity with the law and to surcharge those responsible.

The group engaged the Auditor-General demanding him to apply the law and recover the billions that went into the drain but the then Auditor-General didn't appear willing or capable of doing this.

The dithering of the Auditor-General compelled the pressure group to head to the highest court of the land in June last year for specific orders regarding the powers of the Auditor-General to disallow expenditures and surcharge officers found to have engaged in financial impropriety.