Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni says the Auditor-General’s own stated objective for its COVID-19 expenditure audit raises questions over why the Ministry of Local Gov
The report indicates that investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni says the Auditor-General’s own stated objective for its COVID-19 expenditure audit raises questions over why the Ministry of Local Government’s fumigation spending was omitted from the final report.
It further notes that speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Awuni stated he initially contacted the Audit Service to establish whether the ministry’s expenditure had been audited.
He stated the Audit Service confirmed that it had audited the ministry’s expenditure, including its fumigation spending.
At the centre of the issue is the Auditor-General’s special audit of COVID-19 expenditure, which reported GH¢96.3 million for fumigation.
Mr Awuni’s latest investigation, however, found that the Ministry of Local Government spent GH¢299 million on three phases of market fumigation between April and November 2020.
The investigation also found that the ministry had submitted its fumigation expenditure to the Auditor-General during the audit.
Mr Awuni stated the Audit Service provided him with an appendix showing the ministries covered by the audit and specifically confirmed that the Local Government Ministry had been audited.
“So when I did this letter, they actually gave me a list, an appendix of all the ministries audited, so they covered pretty much everything.”
He stated he specifically asked about the Local Government Ministry and fumigation.
“And the Audit Service indeed told me that they audited everything, all the expenditure, whatever money they took and spent, they audited everything, including the fumigation.”
According to Mr Awuni, the Audit Service’s response was that the omission of the expenditure from the report did not mean it had not been audited.
“And their response to that question was the fact that they did not include it didn’t mean that it was not audited.”
That response, he said, raised further questions because the Auditor-General’s report had provided a specific figure for fumigation expenditure.
“So that is where I became curious because you have somewhere listed the cost of fumigation.”
