Auditor-General report exposes financial rot at 18 assemblies in Volta Region; Coordinating Directors and Finance Officers hot

The Auditor-General’s Report for the 2024 financial year has revealed significant management and financial irregularities in the use of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) by 18 Assemblies in the Volta Region.

According to the report, total allocations to the Region amounted to GH¢32,040,344.16, out of which GH¢10,623,080.82 was deducted at source in favour of the Assemblies’ Service Providers, leaving net cash transfers of GH¢21,417,283.34, representing 66.84 percent of total allocations.

The report cited a case of misapplication of funds involving the Adaklu District Assembly. The Assembly in March 2024 transferred a total of GH¢470,000.00 from its DACF account into its Internally Generated Fund (IGF) account to cater for the cost of training, casual workers, servicing of official vehicle, accountable imprest, fuel, food items and training allowance without reimbursing the account.

Management of the Assembly attributed the anomaly to the emergency nature of the expenditures and insufficient IGF. The Auditors, however, held that the action constituted misapplication of funds which could stall planned activities under the DACF and recommended that Management refund the GH¢470,000.00 into the DACF account.

The report also flagged unaccounted and unsupported payments amounting to GH¢914,399.49 in six Assemblies. In violation of Regulation 78 of the Public Financial Management Regulations, 2019 (L.I. 2378), the Assemblies failed to support 46 payment vouchers totalling GH¢803,913.49 with receipts, claims, or certificates of work done.

The affected Assemblies were Adaklu – GH¢84,954.30, Akatsi North – GH¢450,638.75, Afadzato South – no unsupported but unaccounted, Ketu South – GH¢4,180.00, Ho Municipal – GH¢264,140.44 and Agotime-Ziope – nil. In addition, out of GH¢290,076.00 advanced for programme activities, only GH¢179,590.00 was accounted for, leaving GH¢110,486.00 unaccounted for. The Auditors recommended recovery of the amount from the Coordinating Directors and Finance Officers involved.

Another breach was the failure to allocate funds to sub-structures. The 2023 Guidelines for the Utilisation of DACF require up to two percent of DACF receipts to be used for the establishment and strengthening of zonal, urban, town and area councils. The Adaklu District Assembly, which received GH¢1,150,250.08 for the year under review, failed to allocate the required GH¢23,005.00 to its sub-structures, a situation the report said could render them ineffective at the grassroots level of decentralization.

On contract management, the audit found that two completed projects valued at GH¢480,954.48, with payments of GH¢382,694.53 made, remained unused. They are the construction of a Police Station at Gakli executed by Ketu South at a contract sum of GH¢480,954.48, which is not in use due to lack of electricity at the facility, and lockable shops with market sheds at Mafi-Kumase executed by Central Tongu at GH¢63,406.93, not in use due to its location and poor pavement.

The report warned that non-use of the facilities could lead to deterioration and loss of funds arising from additional cost of renovation, depriving communities of benefits. It recommended that the Assemblies involved provide needed facilities to make them usable and involve stakeholders in siting future projects.

The report further revealed 28 delayed projects valued at GH¢7,845,534.67 awarded between 2016 and 2023, with payments of GH¢3,329,825.02 made so far, delayed for periods ranging from one to nine years. Some of the Assemblies involved include North Tongu, Hohoe Municipal, Akatsi North, Adaklu, Afadzato South, Central Tongu, Anloga and others. Management attributed the delays to funding challenges.

The Auditors cited non-supply and non-replacement of equipment by Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL). Out of 53 solid waste containers and two skip trucks required by four Assemblies under the Sanitation Improvement Programme (SIP), ZGL supplied only 39 waste containers and one skip truck, leaving 14 containers and one skip truck outstanding.

Seven of the 39 containers supplied were in bad condition and had not been repaired or replaced despite notifications by the Assemblies. The affected Assemblies are Anloga – 6 containers needed as replacement, Agotime-Ziope – 1 container short and 1 skip truck, Hohoe Municipal – 7 containers short, and Kpando Municipal – 4 containers short. The non-supply negatively affected solid waste management and exposed communities to epidemic prone diseases.

On tax irregularities, three Assemblies failed to deduct and/or remit taxes amounting to GH¢53,063.19 from payments made to suppliers, contrary to Sections 116 and 117 of the Income Tax Act, 2015 (Act 896). Adaklu failed to remit GH¢17,109.36, Ho Municipal failed to deduct GH¢10,310.71, and South Tongu recorded GH¢25,643.12 in both un-deducted and un-remitted taxes. The Auditor-General has recommended that Finance Officers be held personally liable for any penalties that may arise and that they remit the taxes to the Ghana Revenue Authority.