Despite the Attorney General's opposite views, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee James Klutse Avedzi has backed the Auditor General for disclosing the special audit on the government's Covid-19 expenditure.
The Attorney General maintained that the Auditor General violated the constitution by making the paper public before it was examined by the Public Accounts Committee.
The Attorney General, Godfred Dame, stated in a letter to the Auditor-General, Mr Johnson Akuamoah-Asiedu, that Article 187(5) of the Constitution requires the Auditor-General to submit his report to Parliament and bring attention to any inconsistencies in the audited accounts.
He went on to say that Article 187(6) of the Constitution compels Parliament to discuss the Auditor-report General's and, if required and in the public interest, create a committee to deal with any issues that arise from it.
According to the Attorney General, the report of the Auditor-General may be considered final and relevant action may be taken only after satisfying the constitutional requirement of submitting the Auditor-report General's to Parliament, the subsequent debate by Parliament on it, and the conclusion of work by the appropriate committee of Parliament.
However, Mr. Avedzi stated in an interview that the Auditor General did not violate the law, as the Attorney General and Minister of Justice claimed.
According to the Ketu North member, Article 187(5) requires the Auditor General to send the government's audited reports to Parliament no later than six months after the end of the fiscal year, which the "Auditor has done and satisfied that requirement of the constitution."
He emphasized that the Auditor General was only carrying out his constitutional mandate by publishing the report, and he urged the Attorney General to amend Section 23 of the Audit Service Act to ensure that the publication occurs after the report has been debated by the Public Accounts Committee, but until then, the Auditor General is only carrying out his constitutional mandate.
"He [the Auditor General] just followed the rules. The constitution required him to present the report to Parliament, which he did. The constitution also required him to publish the findings, which he has done. What he should be on the lookout for is the gap. Section 23 of the Audit Service Act should be amended so that after the Auditor General submits the report to Parliament, he must wait until the Public Accounts Committee debates the report before it can be published; currently, the Auditor General can publish without waiting for the PAC to debate the report."