Occupy Ghana has noted with considerable disquiet and alarm, comments made by the Minister-Designate for National Security, Albert Kan Dapaah, in the course of his 10 February 2021 vetting by Parliament for approval as Minister.
Mr. Kan Dapaah claimed, first, is that the independence of the Auditor-General is “not personal” to the Auditor-General but belongs to the Audit Service. Second, he claimed that the Auditor-General’s reports must be approved by Parliament before the Auditor-General could issue disallowances and surcharges.
Of course, Mr Kan Dapaah could not cite any legal or constitutional bases for these shocking views. There are none! This he sought solace in a false claim that the Auditor-General is an officer of Parliament, and that this is what persists under some ‘Westminster system,’ which if true, still does not apply under our constitutional system.
We vehemently disagree with Mr Kan Dapaah’s claims. They have no basis in the law or our Constitution and appear to feed into an attempt by some political actors, clearly uncomfortable with the constitutional position and role of the Auditor-General especially in the light of the magisterial decision of the Supreme Court in OccupyGhana v Attorney-General, are seeking to whittle down that independence and powers that the court upheld in that decision.
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