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Staff of 3 state institutions to be prosecuted for misappropriating Covid funds
The Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), Dr Eric Oduro Osae, has revealed that staff of three state institutions will soon be prosecuted for misappropriating Covid-19 funds.
According to him, the Agency is collaborating with the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) to fast track the processes for the prosecution.
Dr Oduro Osae was speaking at the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition public forum on the accountability gap in Covid-19 responses of Ghana.
He said in 2021, they started receiving internal audit reports from the internal auditors as far as the Covid-19 expenditure audit is concerned.
“We started reviewing them in 2021 and some of the expenditure areas were revealing. Areas where we have challenges we do a follow up. A team is sent to the field to go and validate.
“Those we think have criminal consequences, we would work with EOCO to prosecute them. I’m not allowed to indicate what we are doing or the level of prosecution but I can assure you that at the moment, we are working with EOCO to prosecute three institutions,” he disclosed.
He added that the IAA has already set up an audit report review panel to audit all Covid-19 spending.
“As far as the Internal Audit Agency is concerned, we continued to pursue and establish how total Covid-19 expenditure were spent and whether we are getting value for money.”
“The challenge with Covid-19 expenditure is that it is bothered by service delivery which we use financial audit. This won’t aid in us getting the needed results; we need a performance audit,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee, James Klutse Avedzi, said the House will continue to look into the infractions of COVID-19 expenditure and those found guilty recommended for prosecution.
According to him, persons involved in the misappropriation of the funds will not be spared.
“There is always a gap of a year or two between the time the report is issued and the time the Public Account Committee discussed the report. Covid-19 expenditure is something we did not plan for and in pandemic of this nature it’s an opportunity for some people to enrich themselves so it will be good to look into it and take it as a project to ensure that people don’t abuse the system”, he revealed.
The Minority in Parliament has filed a Private Member’s motion for an inquiry into the expenditure made by the government during the Covid-19 period.
The Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu; the Minority Chief Whip, Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka and Minority Spokesperson on Finance, Cassiel Ato Forson filed a motion to Alban Bagbin, asking for a bipartisan probe into the ¢8.1 billion expenditure by government.
That motion was admitted.
However, the First Deputy Speaker, who subsequently presided over proceedings in the House in the Speaker’s absence, dismissed the motion.
Currently, the Minority is readying to challenge the dismissal of their motion.
Explaining the Majority’s stance against the motion, Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, stated that the auditing of the Covid expenditure should be left to the appropriate state agencies to deal with.
On Wednesday, February 23, Speaker Alban Bagbin expressed dissatisfaction with his deputy, Joesph Osei-Owusu, for dismissing the motion and described the act as illegal and unconstitutional.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
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Swedru All Blacks back to winning ways, Roshan humble King Faisal
Sekondi Rospak FC made it eight wins in eight successive home games after three second-half goals from John Amoah, Joseph Ntow and Stephen Anthony Kofi. John Amoah opened the scoring in the 55th minute after a barren first half. Joseph Ntow added to the tally in the 56th minute before Stephen Anthony Kofi rounded things up in the 74th minute to give Rospak a 3-0 win over former Premier League side King Faisal.
Elsewhere at Swedru – leaders Swedru All Blacks humbled PAC Academy in an emphatic 2-0 win. Zayat Bubakari scored first for Swedru All Blacks in the 27th minute before Rudolf Junior Nana Kwasi Mensah made it 2-0 in the 34th minute. Swedru All Blacks are top of the table with 36 points – 4 points ahead of second placed Rospak FC.
Meanwhile, Former Premier League side Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs recorded their fourth successive home victory after beaten New Edubiase United 2-1 at the Robert Mensah Park. Enoch Odoom struck first for Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs in the 19th minute but Steven Asante equalized for New Edubiase United before halftime. After the interval, Godfred Eshun scored from distance in the 65th minute to help Cape Coast Mysterious Dwarfs secure all the points.
Here are the results in Zone Two
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
