Audit Service is mandated to audit all government disbursements in all the districts in the country. Over the years, the number of regions and districts have increased. Consequently, the number of office accommodation provided for effective work has become a problem.
Several of the staff are in office accommodation provided by the District Assemblies across the country or in temporary structures, and rented premises of clients, thus compromising the independence of the auditors and affecting productivity. In order to provide appropriate accommodation for the staff, the Board and Management approached the government to assist in providing regional and district offices.
FUNDING FOR CONSTRUCTION OF 19 REGIONAL AND DISTRICT OFFICES
In 2016 the government contracted a concessional loan facility of €13,000,000 (Thirteen Million Euros) from Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW), the German Development Bank Group, for the construction of 19 regional and district offices for the Audit Service. Construction was to commence in 2019, however administrative inertia delayed the project and so by the time it commenced the fund could only build 19 offices instead of the original 25, due to inflation, cost of building materials and increase in labour costs. Construction work of 3 regional and 16 district offices began in June 2021. The projects are now completed and due for commission
RENOVATION OF ABANDONED PROJECTS
- In 2020 the Service started the renovation of some of its abandoned buildings in the Ashanti, Central, Northern, Upper West, Volta, Western and Eastern regions. A four-storey regional office in Kumasi and a three-storey office in Tamale were abandoned in 2010. The initial designs for the Kumasi and Tamale offices did not meet disability requirement and a variation was made to include the installation of lifts in the buildings. The installation of the lifts is almost completed and the two offices are expected to be commissioned in June 2024. Also, the construction of some district offices which were abandoned, including Winneba in Central region, Agona in Ashanti region, Tumu in the Upper West region and Kete Krachi in the Volta region have been completed and now in use by the staff. The Service has also undertaken to renovate and re-roof offices that had problems with roof leakages. The Akropong and Kyebi offices in the Eastern region have been completed as well as Obuasi office in the Ashanti and Denu in the Volta regions and now in use by the staff.
