The civic actors observed that the institutional, systemic and policy failure which continued to derail the country’s progress were all man-made, hence a collective resolve to also make Ghana work well for now and posterity.
These and other critical sentiments came up during the Zonal workshop for Civic actors on the Auditor-General’s Report and the CitizensEye App organised by the African Centre for Energy Policy led Coalition as part of the project titled: “An Anti-Corruption Initiative for Enhancing governance and accountability”.
Madam Monica Agu, the Western Regional Director, Ghana Audit Service, reiterated the pressing need for the Ghanaian to have a “hand, heart and mindset” of development.
She said doing the right things in any small way drove the change that Ghanaians were desiring.
“Let our righteousness grow our nation, as we encourage good people to also do more in society,” Madam Agu said.
The Western Regional Director for Audit noted that Ghana’s development was not a one-man business or did not lie in the hands of a few; but every Ghanaian had a role to play to build the homeland.”
Madam Araba Dennis, the Executive Director of African Women International said it was highly embarrassing that the country continued to score higher marks on the corruption perception index and called for all hands-on deck to redeem Ghana’s image.
She said the remnant of colonisation should not cause the country to fall into the mud: “now our country is for us, and we cannot continue to drag government businesses and institutions into the mud.
Mr. Ebo Barker, a Local Accountability Network Convenor said, government officials found culpable embezzlement, must not only be made to serve a jail term but also refund the monies allegedly stolen.
The same government officials must also allow the laws of the country to work without nepotism, favouritism and unrighteous defenses.
Madam Roberta Ntim, the Director Performance, Ghana Audit Service who took participants through the structure and mandate of the Ghana Audit Service and the CitizensEye App noted that the Acts establishing the Service mandated them to carry out auditing in all government institutions to ensure that governments budget and allocations were properly utilised for intended activities.
She, however, noted how infractions such as wrongful spending, improperly executed infrastructure projects, embezzlement, and misappropriation were prevalent among state institutions.
Madam Ntim, therefore urged all to play an active part in helping to manage state resources for real-time development.
She said, the CitizensEye App, had been introduced by the Ghana Audit Service to enable individual’s report any wrongdoing for investigation.
Since 2019, the CitizensEye App had recorded 1277 complained bothering on infrastructure, ghost names in schools, diversion of foodstuffs, double track senior high system and its pressure on teachers, bribery and corruption among others.
Madam Ntim urged the participants to effectively use the App to lodge complaints and wrong doings in the space to save the country.
GNA
