I’m Too Clean to Be Hanged For Corruption

 …Prez. Akufo-Addo Tells Conspiring Political Opponents

 The President, HE Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said he is too clean for his political opponents to succeed with their conspiracy to “hang” him or any of his family members for corruption.

He said the conspiracy by his political opponents to link him and his family to alleged acts of corruption will fail.
Mr. Akufo-Addo said that there have been some rigorous and despairing efforts by his political opponents to tarnish his and members of his family with corruption but their efforts “will simply not wash.”

He said: “I did not come into public life to make money out of public service, and members of my family know fully well that, they have to behave, and are not involved in anything untoward. I am aware that you give a dog a bad name in order to hang it. But, this dog will not be hanged.”

President Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking at the 2018 Annual Internal Audit conference, yesterday under the theme, “Leadership and Good Corporate Governance; A key to Effective Public Financial Management.”

He charged internal Auditors to work and perfect all stages of public financial management system to enable the country maximize the use of its resources.

According to him, internal auditors are one of the primary weapons in the fight against corruption and as they form the first line of defense in that fight.

According to him when Internal Auditors do their jobs well; they will provide an independent and objective assessment of an institution’s operations and the effectiveness of its internal control structure.

According to the President, internal auditors have a role to play in the conduct and management of public finances since there is widespread dissatisfaction among the general public about the integrity of dealings in our public institutions.

He averred that he was determined to rekindle the sense of hope espoused on 7^th January, 2017, and retain the confidence of the people by making sure that public institutions work.

“I know that I shall keep hope alive when people believe that both the government I lead, and myself are serious about the fight against corruption in public life,” he said.

In the light of this, President Akufo-Addo charged Internal auditors to function well and use a systematic and disciplined approach to evaluate and provide assurance services, and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control, and governance processes.

He said: “If internal auditors are working well, structures of governance will work smoothly…. corruption thrives when no one is checking.”

He also established that the daily and constant checking of systems ensures that the public purse is respected and protected, averring that when people know that they cannot get away with “spending 10 Cedis of public money without accounting for it, they hesitate to take 100 or 1,000 or 10,000 Cedis.”

“Every time that we all wince at the details of the reports of the Auditor General at the hearings of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, we know that our internal auditors are not working as they should. Unfortunately, it has become a routine for the Auditor General to uncover cases of financial malfeasance in the public service that would otherwise go unnoticed until he or she appears,” he said.

According to him the development is not pleasant, but as a country we cannot avoid the conclusion that the internal auditor must be either complicit or incompetent.

“We cannot afford to have internal auditors that would be complicit in the malfeasance they are expected to prevent, and, certainly, we do not need incompetent ones,” he added.

The President also said so many things are left to be done; roads, schools, hospitals, houses need to be built, therefore the need to plug all the avenues for the leakage of public funds, adding that when hopes have been dashed so many times, “we dare not allow the current opportunity to go to waste. Internal auditors, working as they should, would bring confidence into the public sector and ensure the smooth running of their departments.”

According to him he acknowledges the fundamental role that internal auditors play to prevent, detect and reduce corruption, leakages, and waste of public resources.

He said Internal auditors help to ensure accurate and timely information, which helps to improve financial management systems in organizations, lead in the safeguarding of resources and help to strengthen the control system, compliance with laws, policies and procedures in organizations.

He added that institutions, such as the Auditor-General, Internal Audit Agency, EOCO and other statutory institutions, will continue to be empowered to carry out their mandate so that relevant laws and policies are complied with, stressing that internal auditors have what it takes to contribute to good corporate governance and good leadership in the public sector.

“We promise the auditors our support in fulfilling their mandate under the Internal Audit Agency Act, 2003 (Act 658), and the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921). We shall support auditing to bring transparency and accountability into our public financial system.”

He also assured Ghanaians that Government is on the right path to secure what is good for the country, and will endeavor to work hard to reach that goal.