Daniel Yao Domelovo
The cost of the Auditor General Daniel Yao Domelovo’s private trip to Malawi which spanned five days was borne by the Ghana Audit Service.
This was one of the details of a report on the foreign trips by the Auditor General and his six deputies spanning from January 1, 2017 to October 30, 2020.
The Audit Service Board, it would be recalled, appointed a private accounting firm K&A Accounting Services to audit the subject, the report of which included a whopping amount of GH¢3.3m spent by the officers within the period under review in foreign trips.
There has been debate over which body has the mandate to call for auditing of the Auditor General; with some critics claiming it is Parliament and not the board of the service that should cause an auditing of the Auditor General.
The Kwadwo Kwarteng Managing Partner’s signed report explained the Malawi trip thus, “This was a five-day trip to Malawi, which cost GH¢18,427 in air travels, hotels and per diem of $930, fully funded by the Ghana Audit Service. The appointment letter of the Auditor General, Mr. Domelevo, was not available to enable us to confirm the legitimacy of the payments.”
Not in agreement with the board’s decision to cause to be probed his trips and that of his six deputies, Mr. Domelevo has insisted that the appointment of a private accounting firm to audit the Audit Service was a contravention of the constitution which bestows such a task upon Parliament.
One of the disagreements between the board and the Auditor General was about his foreign trips which were done without board approval, something which triggered the audit.
The board also found it intriguing that the cost of the trips, although borne by the Audit Service, was not accounted for upon the return trips.
The sources of funding too were before the report, beyond the ken of the board, which reason it appointed the private accounting firm to determine.
Audit Service Board
At an emergency meeting of the board held on April 16, 2018, the board demanded a report from the Auditor General and his six deputies within 14 days of his return from his official trips.
Not receiving a response, the board decided to rely on its obligation as enshrined in the Audit Service Regulation and caused to be audited the trips under review.
Details
The accounting firm, the board pointed out, observed that “the Auditor General during the period under review traveled 43 times out of the country for a total of 276 days.
“The travels of the Auditor General and his six deputies during the period cost the Audit Service GH¢3, 342, 273.”
The consultants also noted that the Auditor General’s Malawi trip was for his family affairs, and the GH¢26,797 cost of which was funded by the Ghana Audit Service.
Continuing, the board noted based on the consultant’s finding that, the Auditor General and his deputy Mr. George Swanzy Winful, spent 16 days in London and The Hague from March 13 to April15, 2018 during the Easter holidays period on what they termed “familiarisation and exploratory visit”. It turned out that the board observed that the trip was a personal vacation; the cost of which was over $25,770, borne by the Ghana Audit Service.
Another observation by the Ghana Audit Service was that the Auditor General traveled to Delhi, India, London, The Hague and Geneva with an imprest of over US$7000 but did not retire the imprest in contravention to financial management regulation.
Recommendations
The firm recommended that the Audit Service Board ensure that the Auditor General took action to correct the internal weaknesses of the service with regard to foreign travels.
“Additionally, the Audit Service Board should regulate management foreign travels with an approved policy to enable the service to obtain value for money on the trips, as some of the travels generate revenue for the service,” it added.
By A.R. Gomda