New Eastern Region Audit Service office inaugurated

A new office complex for the Eastern Regional Audit Service has been inaugurated in Koforidua.

The edifice, which has an overhead water tank and other amenities to facilitate the work of the auditors, was funded by KfW of Germany. The building also has other facilities such as rooms for seminars, conferences, meetings, archives, storage and additional rooms designed to cater for persons with disability (PWDs), among others.

It is among 25 regional and district offices to be built across the country with a €13 million KfW Germany loan facility.

Milestone

At a short ceremony to officially inaugurate the new building last Friday, the Eastern Regional Minister, Seth Kwame Acheampong, who delivered a speech on behalf of the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, said the provision of the facility marked a significant milestone in the continuous efforts to strengthen public financial management.

The new Eastern Regional Office complex of the Audit Service

 He said the facility was the first of three to be undertaken this year, with two other equally magnificent offices that would soon be inaugurated in Cape Coast in the Central Region and Ho in the Volta Region.

Giving a background to the acquisition of the loan, the President stated that in 2016, Cabinet approved a loan facility of €13 million from KfW for the construction of 25 regional and district offices for the Audit Service.

The loan agreement, Nana Akufo-Addo indicated, was subsequently signed on December 12, 2016, following parliamentary approval on October 31, the same year. He said unfortunately, the procurement process was fraught with bureaucracy which delayed the project, thereby affecting the cost of construction and reducing the number of offices to be constructed from 25 to 19.

He, however, stated that during the 2020 meetings between the governments of Ghana and the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Government committed an additional €11.5 million to the project.

That generous commitment, the President intimated, would enable the Audit Service to construct additional six regional and six district offices for the newly created regions. That, he pointed out, would also enable the service to commit funds from the government's budget to complete projects that were started by the Audit Service as far back as 2012, which had been abandoned at various stages across the country.

Notable among these projects, the President mentioned, were the four-storey regional office in Kumasi, the three-storey regional office in Tamale, as well as district offices in Agona and Winneba, both in the Central Region; Tumu in the Upper East Region, and Kete Krachi in the Oti Region.

The President further indicated that the service had reroofed and renovated previous uninhabitable buildings in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region, Agona Swedru in the Central Region, Denu in the Volta Region, and Akropong in the Eastern Region.

He pointed out that the Audit Service had been playing a crucial role in safeguarding the public purse by ensuring that government expenditures were in accordance with the law, and that there was value for money in all government transactions.

The President said by providing independent audits of public accounts, the Audit Service had been helping to build public confidence in the financial systems and promoting good governance.

Training hub

He expressed the hope that the new regional office would provide a conducive environment for the efficient execution of audit activities and serve as a centre for training and capacity-building for auditors within the region, expressing ppreciation and gratitude to KfW of Germany and all those who contributed to the execution of the project.

The Auditor-General, Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu, said the service's major challenge as an independent institution was inadequate office accommodation, hence the provision of the facility was a dream come true.

An elated German Ambassador to Ghana, Daniel Krull, said the construction of the building was as a result of the good relationship between Ghana and the Federal Republic of Germany.

He assured the country of the German government's continuous support for Ghana through KfW Development Bank, which had been responsible for the development of Germany after the Second World War, and would help do same in Ghana.