The Internal Audit Agency (IAA) wants its Act amended to give the Agency control over internal auditors in public institutions for the country to make headway in the financial leakage in the institutions.
Dr. Eric Oduro Osae, IAA Director-General, said as long as internal auditors remain beholden to their institutional superiors, the persistent issues of mismanagement and leakage of public funds will continue unabated.
“The call we are making is that the government should tighten the internal audit laws by completing the restructuring of internal audit processes,” Dr. Osae urged. “An amendment to the IAA law must be passed quickly so that internal auditors are well-resourced and independent enough to prevent irregularities.”
Dr. Osae contends that Ghana’s approach to addressing public sector corruption has been overly reactionary, focused on empowering external auditors to uncover abuses after the fact rather than equipping internal control systems to block misconduct in the first place.
“We should emphasize prevention of the irregularities instead of waiting for the horses to bolt before we chase them,” he said.
The IAA chief also called on political parties vying for power in the 2024 general election to commit to strengthening the agency’s role and resources if they are serious about tackling corruption and waste.
Currently, the IAA lacks prosecutorial powers, with only the Attorney-General’s office able to bring charges against public officials. Dr. Osae suggested this is an area that should be considered in any forthcoming constitutional review.
“This time around, let us change the narrative, start from the base, empower internal auditors, resource them so that they can prevent the irregularities,” he concluded.
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