Members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Northern Ghana, has presented a petition to the Auditor-General to constitute a team from the Audit Service to conduct an audit on all the One Village One Dam (1V1D) projects in the North.
The petition was copied to Ghana News Agency on behalf of the CSOs and beneficiary communities of the projects by Mr Bismark Adongo Ayorogo, Executive Director of the Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NORPRA).
It said for purposes of promoting transparency and accountability of public resource management and establishing value for money for these projects.
“we are invoking your constitutional mandate of auditing all public accounts to conduct an audit on all the 1V1D projects in Northern Ghana.”
The petition stated; “We were pleased and inspired by a policy statement in the 2018 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of the Government (Page 61, Parag. 276) that the Audit Service was increasing its audit coverage on government’s new policies such as One Village One Dam among others to ascertain value for money.
“However, we have since not sighted any audit report from your Service on these 1V1D projects.”
The petitioners highlighted that the 1V1D initiatives were financed through Ghana’s oil revenue’s Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA).
This funding aimed to fulfill policy objectives outlined in the 2018 Budget (Paragraph 394), including promoting double cropping in a year and enhancing agricultural productivity.
Additionally, it sought to bolster food security and reduce the nation’s food import bill, as stated in the 2017 Budget (Paragraph 496), ultimately aiming to uplift the livelihoods of the populace.
Given the Audit Service’s track record of actively promoting good governance, transparency, accountability, and probity within Ghana’s public financial management system, the petitioners urged the Service to accord their petition the necessary attention it merits.