Politics Friday, June 21, 2024
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Co-chairman of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption (CMAC), Edem Senanu, said the audit department had young talent with the requisite skills and expertise to function effectively as Auditor-General.
President Akufo-Addo has extended the term of Auditor-General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu for the next two years. Mr. Akuamoah Asiedu was due to retire on August 1, 2024. However, a letter from the Audit Office noted that the president had extended his term.
Senanu, speaking on the Morning Star show with Francis Abban, made the case for a new appointment rather than a renewal of the Auditor General’s contract. He believes it would be more beneficial to appoint a new candidate to the position of Auditor General rather than extending the current contract.
“Despite the presidential office claiming that it knew what it was doing, the Supreme Court ruled that its actions were unconstitutional. Then the next person is given a post-retirement contract for another two years. What has changed? Questions start to arise about what person A did or didn’t do, and what person B did or didn’t do. So there is no consistency in terms of administrative policy and it doesn’t leave a very good impression about how things are being managed,” Senanu said.
“I think we should demand it and I think it makes a lot of sense from a policy perspective, in terms of understanding the criteria that were used to make a decision of this magnitude, because otherwise a lot of people are going to start to feel uneasy and it sets a precedent that we don’t need if we want to be very effective in managing our government institutions and processes. We can’t have a decision that appears arbitrary followed by another decision that doesn’t appear to be on a particular trajectory in terms of the position or the criteria for why we’re extending it,” he continued.
“So, we need to demand that they clarify how they arrived at this decision for the extension because we are confident that if they conduct a proper search for the position, there are still many qualified people. There are many potential experts in the state and there is an opportunity to conduct a search to find a new candidate for the position,” Senanu concluded.