Private legal practitioner, Gordon Edudzi Tamakloe has said the Auditor General’s (A-G) refusal to surcharge and disallow persons involved in financial infractions is contemptuous of the Supreme Court.
He says the A-G’s “Pontius Pilate” approach towards a role which has been mandated by the apex court of the land is a violation which can lead to his ousting from office.
The Supreme Court after its ruling on the OccupyGhana vs Auditor-General gave the latter the powers to disallow and surcharge which he has not been exercising.
This, according to Mr. Tamakloe is an intentional posture by the Auditor General to absolve government appointees from prosecution.
He was speaking with Alfred Ocansey on TV3’s The Key Points Saturday, August 3, 2022.
The National Democratic Congress’ legal team member noted the A-G’s deliberate posture not to act on his role is the reason financial misappropriation keep ascending year after year from the Auditor General’s report.
“He has adopted the posture of Pontius Pilate and has washed his hands off the findings. His failure to disallow and surcharge is contemptuous of the Supreme Court and you know that if you violate the Supreme Court order you can be removed from office,” he indicated.
Speaking further, he held President Akufo-Addo is not in charge considering the heinous irregularities and misappropriations that have gone on under this government without any action being taken against perpetuators of such acts.
His concern as he noted was government’s interest in prosecuting only persons who flouted, specifically with procurement breaches, under the erstwhile NDC administration without a shred of attempt to put members in his government involved in same crimes on trial.
The President’s failure to act on such crimes under his watch, he noted, makes him an accomplice.
“I am aware of officials of the NDC who are being prosecuted for procurement breaches. Now we have appointees of Akufo-Addo who have breached the PPA Act, no sanctions have been taken against them.
“The question boils down to leadership, either Akufo-Addo is not in charge of this country or he is an accomplice in this whole engagement.
“If every year the level of irregularities keep increasing under your watch and you are not taking any actions to deal with it then you are creating the image of being an accomplice,” he said.
By Felix Anim-Appau|Onuaonline.com
