Eleven public officers have been surcharged by the Auditor General, Daniel Yaw Domelevo, for misapplying state funds.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday, Mr Domelevo said four people have so far been served with surcharge certificates while the remaining seven would be served in the course of the week.
The eleven surcharged officers have 60 days to pay the money after receipt of the surcharge/disallowance certificates.
They also have the option to appeal against the surcharge or disallowance at the High Court within the given period.
Also, they are expected to refund the monies with interest according to the Bank of Ghana rate.
In February, this year, the Auditor General pledged to begin surcharging public officers who were found to have misapplied state funds.
Making reference to the 2013 Auditor General’s report in which some public officers were cited for misapplication of state funds, he said such officers received no punishment, hence the continuation of the illegality.
“The Ghana Audit Service, under my leadership, has decided that we are going to change the game. From now onwards, the Auditor General is not going to complain to parliament anymore. But if you are conversant with the constitution, under Article 187 (7), it states: ‘The Auditor General, in the course of discharging his duties, if he comes across an expenditure which is illegal or contrary to law, may disallow the expenditure and surcharge the amount to the officer responsible.”
According to Mr Domelevo, he had established a team in his office who will receive training soon on surcharging people.
The team will investigate cases on crime or abuse of public funds and also gather evidence.
“When all these are done, and I have evidence on file that yes this is an abuse, and falls under the remit of the law, then I can go ahead and effect what we call the surcharge certificate.”
Surcharged officers, who are on government payroll, would have the amounts they mismanaged, deducted from their salaries.
“In as much as the constitution allows us to disallow and surcharge people for not complying with the law, I’m also very careful not to abuse that right because people can use it for personal scores and maybe victimise people unduly, so you have to do it professionally,” he explained.
He mentioned that he was reviewing seven more files and by close of day on Wednesday, he will issue seven more certificates.
“Currently I am the only officer in our department issuing certificates and this is to ensure that whatever goes out is very credible and unchallengeable,” he mentioned.
The Supreme Court in June this year ordered the Auditor General to begin surcharging persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.
By Solomon Ofori