Auditor-General’s own audit objective raises questions over omission of Local Gov’t spending – Manasseh Awuni

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. Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday, Mr Awuni said he initially contacted the Audit Service to establish whether the ministry’s expenditure had been audited. He said 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 said 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 said 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.” “They have the cost of the various COVID-19 expenditure, and when it came to fumigation, you said this is the cost, 96 million.” Mr Awuni said the discrepancy becomes more significant because the Audit Service’s own objective was not limited to identifying wrongdoing. “So if you audited this ministry, which spent 299 million Ghana ce…

Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has uncovered a major discrepancy in the Auditor-General’s report on COVID-19 expenditure, with GH¢299 million spent by the Ministry of Local Government on fumigation omitted from the report’s reported fumigation figure of GH¢96 million. Mr Awuni disclosed the finding during an interview on Joy News’ PM Express on Tuesday. He said he contacted the Audit Service after questions emerged over why the Ministry of Local Government’s fumigation expenditure was not captured in the Auditor-General’s COVID-19 expenditure report.

According to him, the Audit Service confirmed that the Ministry of Local Government was among the institutions audited. “Well, at the beginning, I just wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt and to, one, be very sure that they audited it because the ministry in 2022 told me they had given their figures to auditors who were working on it, so I just wanted to be sure.” Mr Awuni said the Audit Service provided him with an appendix listing the ministries covered by the audit. “But beyond that, I specifically mentioned the Ministry of Local Government and also 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.” He said the Audit Service explained that omitting the expenditure from the report did not mean it had not been audited.