INSTITUTIONS TO SET UP INTERNAL AUDIT UNITS (PAGE 35, DEC 7)

THE Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid, has charged institutions in the region without internal audit units and audit implementation committees to form such bodies before the end of the year.
“From the revelations at the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee, we in this region are not prepared to countenance the repetition of similar observations in audit reports,” he noted, and called on the internal audit agency to assist in making this work.
Mr Khalid gave the directive at the opening of a day’s orientation programme for heads of ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) and members of the Audit Report Implementation Committee (ARIC) in Wa.
He said the continuous existence of financial mismanagement in the public sector was a clear indication of the failure to adhere to the systems and controls such as the strict application of the Financial Administration Act 2003 Act 654, Procurement Act, Act 663 and the Internal Agency Act 2003, Act 658, all of which were meant to sanitise financial management in the public sector and to reduce corruption.
Mr Khalid, therefore, called for a review of the existing laws to be able to identify the weaknesses and correct them.
He said heads of institutions owed it a duty to ensure proper accountability of all funds, since the Government continued to lose huge sums of money through misappropriation, mismanagement and other corrupt practices.
“We must always bear in mind that it is the taxpayer who suffers when we allow wrongs to plague our financial systems,” the regional minister stressed, adding that on no account should we see members of the ARIC or internal audit units as enemies.
Rather, Mr Khalid said, such institutions must be welcomed and encouraged to work effectively.
He also advised members of the ARIC and people in charge of auditing to take up the challenge and endeavour to offer the best services.
“A clean bill of health starts from one’s own efforts and self-examination and prevents so many bad things from happening,” he said.
A representative of the ARIC, Mr Samuel Gyekye-Mensah, catalogued some of the duties of the committee and said an effective internal audit practice was critical for the country’s development.
He also appealed to the participants to take the training seriously as it stood to impact positively on their daily activities.