Government working out autonomy for Audit Service-Mills
Mixed reaction in Nkonya about chimps settlement
Government working out autonomy for Audit Service-Mills
Accra (Greater Accra) 6 Dec. '99
The Government is working out modalities to guarantee the Ghana Audit Service greater autonomy, which will make it independent of the Executive for its financial and resource requirements.
A Bill to this effect is awaiting parliamentary approval after which the adoption of value for money auditing will be formalised while making provision for the establishment of forensic and environmental auditing.
Vice-President Professor John Evans Atta Mills said this at the opening of the 40th Regular Session of the Panel of External Auditors of the UN and the 29th Special Session of the UN Board of Auditors in Accra on Monday.
He said cabinet approved the memorandum on the operations of the Audit Service in July this year.
The Bill reviews existing parliamentary enactment on the Service to provide additional powers to enable the Audit Service of Ghana to be fully independent.
He said the government recognises the fact that any talk about sustainable delivery and probity and accountability will be in vain without a strong audit service, which must be able to ensure propriety and transparency in the management of public funds.
The Session is a period when the auditors of the UN meet to deliberate on their activities and work in the past year, and plot new strategies for the future.
They also look at the books of the UN system and report to the General Assembly.
It is being attended by eight Auditors-General, 25 delegates and 1,180 invited guests.
Vice-President Mills said the removal of vestiges of budgetary and manpower controls from the executive branch are among the actions necessary to effect the new trend.
He said it is the aim of the government to continue playing its role more purposefully within the UN System.
Prof. Mills congratulated Mr Osei Tutu Prempeh, Auditor-General, for his able leadership of the Service. Under his leadership, arrears of unaudited reports since 1998 have been cleared and presented to parliament.
He said the benefit of a technical programme from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has strengthened the Service to undertake more direct auditing of USAID funded projects.
The Service currently has a Wide Area Network linking its head office and all its regional offices by computer, internet, intranet and extranet facilities.
"It is the wish of (the) government that the Audit Service will computerise its operations in such areas as personnel and financial management systems as well as in audit planning process to further enhance efficiency."
Prof. Mills said the government is aware of the deficiencies in the public financial management and the need for greater efficiency, hence the assistance from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and World bank in developing the Medium Term strategy for reforming public financial management system under the PUFMARP.
Mr Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, in a speech read for him described the body as a vital link in the UN system that has sustained an efficient and transparent operations of the UN finances.
"A healthy system requires accountability and good auditing to succeed," he said.
GRi../
Mixed reaction in Nkonya about chimps settlement
Nkonya-Ntumda (Volta Region) 6 Dec 6
There is a mixed reaction in Nkonya to the proposal by a United States based Non-Governmental Organisation, Friends of Animals (FoA) to settle some chimpanzees used for scientific experiments in the US at Nkonya-Ntumda in the Jasikan district of the Volta region.
The chiefs and elders of Ntumba have said they are ready to offer sanctuary to the primates provided they are scientifically proven to be free of any health risk to the community and the environment.
These reactions came out during interaction with the chiefs and opinion leaders in the area at the weekend.
Present were Nana Akotia, the second, Mankrado, Nana Kwaku Osei, the fourth, Adontonhene, Nana Okoibea, Queenmother, Nana Ofieye, the stool father, Okyeame Kwaku Owuo, linquist and Nana Anyobodo, odikro of Agyamansu.
Others are Mr J.K. Otumy, opinion leader, Nana Kwadwo Abam, the second, Nkwankwaahene, Mr Mathias Agyaho Yeboah, youth representative, Mr Stephen Dapaa, opinion leader, Mr Timothy Aboegyi, headmaster of L/A JSS and Mr Joseph Otoo, who was the spokesman for the people.
They described misgivings in some circles about the project as a ploy to deny the area benefits to be derived.
They were optimistic that the settling of the chimps in the area will generate employment.
"It will provide foreign exchange and open up our area to tourism," they added.
The people therefore said they endorsed the government's directive for investigation into the health status of the animals as a step in the right direction, to facilitate the beginning of the project.
They told the GNA about an inaugural ceremony, which was held at Ntumda on 8 November last year, after which a number of royal pythons on the Konklobi Island where the animals are supposed to be settled, have been captured and sent away.
Mangoes and bananas have also been planted in the area to serve as food for the primates, the spokesman said.
The people said some seven Americans had come and interacted with them and shown them video documentaries of the animals which are eight.
Meanwhile, some opinion leaders in other Nkonya communities however expressed contrary views on the project.
Among the views expressed were that the presence of the primates could pose a threat to farming activities as the chimps can swim over from the Konklobi Island to the Adjacent farm lands to destroy their farm produce.
A hunter also intimated that the primates are animals, which can easily rape women and couple with the fact that their health status and mental state is unknown, it was not advisable to accept the offer.
Others said since AIDS and Ebola viruses are attributed to the Ape family it will be naive on the part of the community to embrace the project without certified documents to prove that the animals are healthy.
As at the time of the visit, the paramount chief of the area was not available for his comments.
Meanwhile, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the FoA has not yet furnished the agency with the information required for permission to be granted for the project, in spite of a number of correspondences sent to them last year.
Some of the requirements include relocation of the affected fishing settlements, health status of the primates as well as health status of the surrounding communities with respect to possible health risks of the chimps to man.
It will be recalled that an American NGO, Friends of Animals has proposed to settle some chimpanzees that were taken out of Africa for more than 30 years for chemical and bacteriological experiments in the United States in the Volta Region.
President Jerry John Rawlings has directed the Ministry of Lands and Forestry to set up a probe to ascertain health status of the animals.
The Ghana Bar Association and the Ghana Wildlife Society in separate statements called on the government to reject the request because of its suspicious nature.
GRi../