Accra, Ghana//-The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), a leading cross-sectoral grouping of public, private and civil society organisations (CSOs) with a focus on promoting good governance and fighting corruption in the country has enhanced the skills of journalists in public financial management as a move to block wastage of limited government financial and material resources.
To this end, the GACC organised a one-day training workshop in Accra for journalists in southern Ghana comprising the Greater Accra, Eastern, Western, Central, Volta, Western North, and Oti regions. Similarly workshop according to senior officials of the anti-corruption coalition would be held in Kumasi for journalists in the remaining northern regions namely Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper West, and Upper East regions.
The workshop which was attended by journalists from both public and private media organisations also aimed at enhancing the journalists’ understanding of the Auditor General’s annual reports.
Welcoming the journalists to the day’s workshop, the Executive Secretary of GACC, Beauty Emefa Narteh explained that the initiative formed part of her outfit’s larger project dubbed: “Building Evidence for Increased Accountability in Ghana through a Multi-Stakeholder Accountability Initiative” aims at promoting transparency and accountability in public financial management of the West African country.
She underscored the importance of proper dissemination of the Auditor General’s findings, noting that the current gap in understanding these reports hampers effective media reporting thereby starving the Ghanaian citizens of quality information.
Madam Narteh used the opportunity to urge journalists to continue to follow-up stories write comprehensive analyses and interpret the audit reports to ensure that the citizens are well-informed and educated.
“With funding from the Hewlett Foundation, GACC is training journalists across the country to better understand audit reports and the public financial management cycle,” she said.
The Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), Dr Eric Oduro-Osae who was one key facilitators of the workshop highlighted the vital role of internal auditors in preventing corruption and financial irregularities which cut across all the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) as well as the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the country.
Despite the crucial role played by the auditors of the Internal Audit Agency, they are confronted with numerous challenges including inadequate remuneration, lack of resources, and weak legal framework.
It is in light of these, that he called on the government to review the bill establishing the Internal Audit Agency and convert it into a service to enhance the agency’s capacity to prevent corruption, irregularities, and the misuse of public funds across various government institutions.
Additionally, Dr Oduro-Osae called for the review of the bill to ensure that internal auditors are more independent and professional, and free from their employers’ interferences as well as threats of dismissals and transfers to rural areas.
Dr Oduro-Osae also explained why it is important for the IAA to have prosecutorial powers to urgently address infractions discovered by internal auditors in the workplace.
In an interview after the training workshop, he emphasised the importance of ensuring that public funds are spent with value for money, considering not just efficiency and effectiveness, but also environmental impact.
An Associate Editor of the Fourth Estate, Seth Joseph Bokpe who was also a key facilitator took his colleague journalists through the Right to Information (RTI) law and how to leverage it to enrich their reporting.
Beneficiaries of the workshop thanked the anti-corruption coalition for organising the insightful and timely workshop that empowered them to police the country’s public finances and other assets.
