Pres Mahama calls high-level meeting to tackle mismanagement of public funds
President John Dramani Mahama is set to convene a high-level meeting today, 9 October, with the Chief Justice, the Attorney General and other key governance and accountability institutions to address the persistent mismanagement of public funds revealed in successive Auditor-General’s reports.
The meeting, which follows years of recurring financial irregularities across public institutions, is expected to craft practical and enforceable measures to ensure accountability and end the culture of impunity in the use of state resources.
Speaking at the 12th Annual Conference of Chairpersons of Governing Boards and Chief Executives of Public Services in Ho on Wednesday, 8 October, President Mahama expressed deep frustration over the repeated cases of fiscal recklessness that have become a feature of the Auditor-General’s annual reports.
“I’ve been watching the Public Accounts Committee, and it’s so pathetic. Every year we gather, and the same reckless misuse of public funds is reported,” the President lamented.
He described the trend as a stain on the integrity of public service, stressing that the government must move beyond rhetoric to implement a fast-track legal process for prosecuting individuals found culpable of financial mismanagement.
According to him, the absence of timely and decisive punishment has emboldened some public officials to repeat the same offences with impunity.
“Until people know they will be held responsible for misusing public resources, nothing will change,” President Mahama warned.
He noted that the Auditor-General’s reports had uncovered financial infractions running into billions of cedis, funds that, if properly utilised, could have financed critical development projects in health, education and infrastructure.
President Mahama also drew attention to what he described as a lack of institutional follow-through on audit findings.
The President cited constitutional provisions that mandate Parliament to establish a standing committee to monitor the implementation of the Auditor-General’s recommendations, a requirement he said has not been effectively fulfilled.
“Many of the existing oversight mechanisms, such as the Audit Report Implementation Committees (ARICs), have proven largely ineffective. We need a stronger institutional response to these audit findings,” he emphasised.
The upcoming meeting, he said, will bring together key accountability agencies, including the Audit Service, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP), the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) and the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament to develop a harmonised framework for enforcement.
