Scale up your supervisory role – Supreme Court Justice to Parliament

A Justice of the Supreme Court, Mr Yaw Appau has asked Ghana’s Parliament to increase its supervisory role especially on how the Consolidated Fund is utilized.

He said Parliament must act swiftly on the reports of the Auditor-General which has over the years identified corrupt practices in the utilization of the consolidated Funds.

In his address at a leadership dialogue organized by the center for social justice, he outlined eleven recommendations which included parliament intensifying its role in the operation of the consolidated funds as a measure in the fight against corruption.

He further urged the media to hold all duty bearers accountable without fear and favour but advised it is done constructively.

He said “Parliament must intensify its supervisory role in the operations of the consolidated fund and ensure that the auditor general recommendations are strictly adhered to.

“I am of the view that Parliament can perform its independent role better if a second look is taken at article 78 (1) of the 1992 constitution which requires the president to appoint majority of his governing ministers from parliament.

“The existing practice weakens parliament’s resolve to check the executive because invariable the executive has one his legs in parliament.”

He added “It is regrettable to say that though we have been working as a country to uproot corruption or in a better word to minimize it gets worse by the day.

“The audited public accounts of Ghanaian technical universities for the period ending 31st December 2016 found financial irregularities amounting to 57million cedis. In 2019, three years timer, this figure jumped from 57 million to a whopping 170 million cedis.”