Occupy Ghana Threatens Legal Against Auditor-General -For Refusing To Enforce Disallowance And Surcharge Powers
Freeman Koryekpor Awlesu Greater 
Pressure group, OccupyGhana has threatened to institute a legal action against the Auditor-General for refusing to enforce its powers of disallowance and surcharge.
"We write to repeat our constitutional demand for the information. If you fail or refuse to respond to our demand, we shall commence legal proceedings against you, including filing a petition to the Right to Information Commission," the group noted in a press statement copied to Soireenews.com
In a second letter dated July 1, 2022, addressed to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the statement asserted that the OccupyGhana demanded confirmation of receipt of any disallowance and surcharge certificate issued by the Auditor-General.
The group argued that it had earlier written to the Attorney-General on the same matter and has not received a response.
In the letter which was copied to the Auditor-General, the Executive Secretary, Right to Information Commission, and the Information Officer, Office of the Attorney-General & Ministry of Justice and the media, OccupyGhana also demanded that the Attorney-General should provide evidence of steps taken to enforce the demands in the certificate.
OccupyGhana also expressed concern over the failure of the Attorney-General to either acknowledge receipt of their letter or supply the information they requested.
They have, therefore, entreated the Attorney-General to provide them with the issues they raised in their letter, demanding confirmation of receipt of any disallowance and surcharge certificate issued by the Auditor-General, as well as to provide evidence of steps taken to enforce the demands in the certificate.
Below is the press statement
Our Ref: OG/2022/015
7 June 2022
The Attorney-General & Minister of Justice
Office of the Attorney-General & Ministry of Justice
Accra
Attention: Godfred Y Dame, Esq
Dear Sir:
RE: RIGHT TO INFORMATION REQUEST
On 30 June 2021, we wrote to you on the above-entitled matter (our ref OG/2021/002), requesting information on whether or not you have complied with section 85(2) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 (Act 921), which requires you to submit annual reports to the Finance Minister, Auditor-General and Parliament on actions that you have taken on behalf of the government following the Auditor-General’s annual reports and Parliament’s recommendations.
In that letter, we also reminded you of the decision of the Supreme Court in OCCUPYGHANA v ATTORNEY-GENERAL, that ‘the Attorney-General is hereby ordered to take all necessary steps to enforce the decisions or steps taken by the Auditor-General… to ensure compliance including in some cases criminal prosecutions.’
We then indicated that as citizens of Ghana, we were interested in ascertaining whether you had satisfied these demands of the Act and the Supreme Court. We therefore requested, in line with article 21(1)(f) of the Constitution and section 18 of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989), that you provide to us:a list of all actions that your office has taken since 2016 when Act 921 was passed, and 2017 when the Supreme Court decision was made; the status of all such actions; and copies of the annual reports that you have submitted in line with section 85(2) of Act 921, and actions and processes taken pursuant to the Supreme Court decision.
We further indicated that while we would appreciate it if the information was delivered to us in hard copy and/or electronic form, and we were happy to provide the necessary computer drives for the electronic format.
It has been almost a year since we delivered the letter to you. You have neither acknowledged receipt of the letter nor provided the information we seek.
We write to repeat our constitutional demand for the information. If you fail or refuse to respond to our demand, we shall commence legal proceedings against you, including filing a petition to the Right to Information Commission.
Counting on your co-operation on this matter.
Yours in the service of God and Country,
OccupyGhana
cc. Speaker of Parliament
Parliament House
Accra
Minister for Finance
Ministry of Finance
Accra
Auditor-General
Office of the Auditor-General
Accra
The Executive Secretary
Right to Information Commission
Accra
For further information, please contact Sydney Casely-Hayford (+233 54 876 2706) [email protected].
ABOUT OCCUPYGHANA®
COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTY
OccupyGhana® is a socio-political non-partisan pressure group with the vision of engaging Ghanaians in the development process and ensuring good and responsible governance. We are passionately committed to ensuring that Ghana develops to its full economic potential and remains a strong democracy.
