The first-ever inaugural meeting of the Association of Auditors General of West Africa (AAGWA) opened in Accra on Thursday with a call for convergence of strategies to optimize financial and technical resources.

To further improve the impact of various programmes of ECOWAS, a decision to reform its institutions was taken by the Authority of Heads of State and Government.

One of the reforms was the creation of the Office of the Auditor General to support the improvement of governance in ECOWAS institutions and agencies to ensure and promote accountability, transparency, efficient service delivery, and aligning ECOWAS to global best practice standards.

AAGWA is as a result of the reform of ECOWAS Institutions.

Mr Jean-Claude KassiBrou, the President of ECOWAS, said the creation of a supranational body encompassing Auditors General in the ECOWAS Region allowed for the transfer of best practices.

This is achieved through pooling and borrowing of key resources for audits at the regional and national levels leading to transfer of best practices and joint formulation of audit policies and strategies.

That, he said, would ensure that the ECOWAS Integration Agenda was managed on sound principles that guaranteed the integrity of corporate governance and foster economic growth and prosperity in the ECOWAS Region.

“It will also ensure full alignment of Audit work to address common issues at the regional and national levels,” he added.

He said globally, the role of an auditor was fundamental to every institution because they were charged with providing assurance and advisory services to their stakeholders on the effectiveness and efficiency of operations as well as the strength of the existing internal controls.

It is, therefore, expected that the Reform will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ECOWAS Institutions and Agencies, he said.

Mr KassiBrou said in the context of achieving the overall aims and objective of ECOWAS, AAGWA with a supranational perspective was proposed to be established and expressed gratitude for the decision.

The goal of AAGWA, he said, was to promote co-operation and networking amongst ECOWAS institutions and the respective offices of Auditors General in Member States to achieve value for money in the execution of regional and national programmes. “As we endeavour to improve the living standards in the ECOWAS region, it is my expectation that the establishment of AAGWA will promote transparency and greater accountability within ECOWAS Member States in the implementation of programmes and projects so that ECOWAS achieves its long-term goals and objectives,” he said.

“The concept of AAGWA is not unique to ECOWAS. There are other organisations like INTOSAI, which share similar goals and objectives. Therefore, AAGWA will help ECOWAS to align itself to global best practice standards that are identical to other global organizations…”.

Mr Ken Ofori Atta, the Minister of Finance, urged the Auditors General to rise up to protect the public purse by closing the leakage in revenue mobilisation.

He noted that if steps were not taken to address weakness of revenue mobilisation and public resources the perception that Africa had reached the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals would elude the continent. He, therefore, advocated for the need to have a common voice to speak to the world about their goals and how they intended to achieve them.

Mr Daniel Domelevo, the Auditor General, in a speech read on his behalf, said the abuse of public resources had become rampant in the sub-region and yet, when audit reports revealed those infractions, the perpetrators took delight in attacking the Auditor General instead of correcting the wrong.

“A strong Public Financial Management System is the basis for the conduct of government financial business. An Auditor-General has a responsibility to carry out work in a manner to provide reasonable assurance that operations are executed in an orderly, ethical, economical, and efficient manner”.

He said Ghana offered to host the meeting to demonstrate her total support for the developmental initiatives of the ECOWAS Commission and urged participants to be ready to share experiences and provide support to ensure that none of the countries was left behind.

“It is my firm belief that the establishment of AAGWA would afford us the opportunity to discuss pertinent issues that would help improve the Public Financial Management System of our various countries.”

He expressed the hope that the meeting would strategise to push a common agenda in the fight against corruption, financial malpractices, and money laundering within the sub-region.