WIREKO-BROBBY, MPIANI REBUT A-G's REPORT (FRONT PAGE) 28-01-09

REBUT (Castle) Read by E. agyeI
Story: Kweku Tsen
THE Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana@50 Secretariat, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobbey, has stated that payments made from the Golden Jubilee celebration accounts were audited by the Internal Audit Unit at the Office of the President.
In a rebuttal to statements made by the Auditor-General (AG), Mr Edward Dua Agyeman, to the government transition team on the recovery of government assets, Dr Wereko-Brobbey said more than 95 per cent of payments made from public funds for the Golden Jubilee celebrations were audited by the unit.
“More than 95 per cent of payments made from public funds were made through the Treasury Department of the Office of the President, which issued cheques written and signed by them after auditing by the Internal Audit Department,” he said.
Dr Wereko-Brobbey also said only five per cent of payments were made directly from the secretariat’s accounts, adding that even that had to be counter-signed by officials of the Office of the President after auditing had been done by the staff of the office.
The officials, the Ghana@50 Secretariat CEO claimed, were the Director of Budget, the Chief Director and the Chief Accountant, all of the Office of the President.
“Every single payment made from public funds was audited by the Internal Audit Unit of the Office of the President,” he said.
The Ghana@50 CEO disagreed with Mr Dua Agyeman that draft statements were not ready for audit, claiming that four separate statements had been provided for the AG’s team in relation to the transactions of the secretariat.
He explained that the statements included a full account of the disbursement of the US$20 million provided by Parliament in the 2006 Supplementary Budget and the statement on the receipts and uses of funds received from corporate sponsors.
Others were the statements from the African Union (AU) Development Consortium on the disbursement of its loan on the Cantonments project and outstanding indebtedness to various contractors and suppliers.
Dr Wereko-Brobbey further explained that every payment made by the AU Development Consortium for the AU housing project at LA was audited and paid by the company’s own staff who prepared their vouchers and issued cheques for payments.
Throwing more light on the AU villages at Cantonments and Ridge, the Ghana@50 CEO said the residential developments were constructed to accommodate Heads of State and similar dignitaries who attended the Jubilee celebrations and the AU Summit held in August of the same year.
He further explained that the AU villages and the fleet of 300 vehicles purchased were used for other high-level conferences which were held in Ghana after the celebrations.
Dr Wereko-Brobbey mentioned them as the Consultative Group Meeting (2007), the AU Conference (2007), the African Ministers of Finance Conference (2007), the CAN 2008, the High Level Forum on Aid Harmonisation and Effectiveness (2008) and the UNCTAD Conference (2008).
When asked to comment on why the secretariat could not provide a comprehensive report on its operations to the AG’s Department, Dr Wereko-Brobbey said, “In a situation where the accounts of the operations were still active at the time of the audit, it was impossible to provide a singular draft financial statement beyond what had been so far provided the AG’s department.”
On his part, Mr. Kwadwo Mpiani, who was also the Chief of Staff and Minister of Presidential Affairs in the Kufuor administration, dismissed the aspect of the interim report which suggested that the nation owed GH¢18 million to various organisations, reports Kofi Yeboah.
According to him, some details in the report were wrong, and he declared his preparedness to address every single query raised in the report on the Ghana@50 Project.
Mr Mpiani made the remark today on JOY FM and Adom FM, both radio stations in Accra and Tema, respectively, in reaction to the interim audit report, which was presented by the Auditor-General, Mr Edward Dua Agyeman, to President Mill’s Transition Team on Transfer of Executive Assets of the State in Accra on Monday.
The interim audit report indicated, among other things, that in addition to the GH¢60.2 million released for the celebration of Ghana@50, the nation still owed GH¢18 million to various organisations.
It also noted that the Ghana@50 Secretariat, which was established by the National Planning Committee (NPC) - a Cabinet sub-committee, to implement programmes and activities towards the celebration of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee, did not maintain good cash books for the proper auditing of its accounts.
The Auditor-General has given the NPC and the Ghana@50 Secretariat 30 days within which to respond to the queries raised in the interim report.
However, Mr Mpiani, who was the chairman of the NPC, insisted that the accounts of the Ghana@50 Project were clean and devoid of any malfeasance.
He wondered how an interim audit report could be presented and discussed as though it was the final audit report, pointing out that the report did not reflect the true account of the project.
Mr Mpiani also expressed disappointment at the manner in which the transition team opened the presentation of the report and its discussion to the media as if to create the impression that something untoward had been done.
He said if the government had any problem with the accounts of the project, it could establish a committee of enquiry to probe the matter, and that would allow officials of the previous government, with legal representation, to explain issues.
Commenting on the assertion by the Commissioner of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), Mr Empanel Nmashie Doku, that 139 vehicles imported by the Office of the President could not be traced, the former Chief of Staff said it was not the responsibility of the Commissioner of CEPS to trace government vehicles.
He said the responsibility of CEPS was to collect custom duties on vehicles at the points of entry and not to trace where the vehicles were sent.
Mr Mpiani said he had given documents covering the vehicles to the transition team, adding that if they needed further clarifications, they should have contacted him and not the CEPS Commissioner.
He called on the transition team to carry out their activities in a professional manner and in the best interest of the nation.