Public money is meant to be collected for public services. In the coming two months, the Minister of Finance will, on behalf of the executive, present estimates of revenue and expenditure for the year 2026, recurrent and developmental aspects, for consideration of and approval by the National Assembly. Once the budget is approved and a law passed to authorize public funds to be allocated to different agencies, these agencies are required by law to keep proper accounts of all monies spent and how they are spent.
The statement of accounts of the government should be collated by the accountant general on an annual basis and forwarded to the Office of Auditor General for auditing. The Auditor General is supposed to audit the accounts of the government on an annual basis and report its findings to the National Assembly for review. Should the National Assembly fail to review the Auditor General’s Report for any financial year the Auditor General has power to publish the report for public notice.
This is why the Auditor General published the reports for 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Hence the public finance system is designed to safeguard public funds, and such funds must be accounted for by the Central Bank. It is therefore important to scrutinize and explain why the National Assembly has been unable to scrutinize the 2021, 2022 and 2023 National Audit Reports. Foroyaa will investigate and report accordingly.
