The Western North Regional office of the Audit Service has held its annual thanksgiving service in Sefwi Bekwai in the Bibiani-Anwhiaso-Bekwai Municipality.
The annual thanksgiving service was held to herald in the New Year and express gratitude to God for the blessings he provided throughout the previous year and the heights that were attained.
The service held at the Grounds Centre Assemblies of God church in Sefwi Bekwai was attended by Regional and District officers from Bibiani, Sefwi Wiawso, and Enchi.
Staff members expressed their appreciation to God for keeping them productive in the service of the country through scripture readings, praises, prayers, and dancing.
On behalf of the Auditor General, Mr. Samuel Nii Odartey Lamptey, the Western North Regional Auditor, praised the staff for their selfless work during the reviewed year and urged them to reflect on their accomplishments, make amends for their mistakes, and give thanks to God for his blessings and protection.
He said that through their dedication to the service in the region, out of a target of 202 audits, his outfit achieved 216. This gave the Audit Service a completion rate of 107%.
According to Mr. Lamptey, they were able to deliver by meeting their deadlines, going above and beyond the goal they had set for themselves, and recovering some funds that had been mistakenly paid to individuals.
“Our philosophy is that for every cedi the government of Ghana invests in the institution, we should be able to recover 3 pesewas through mistakes, infractions, etc,”
The Western North Regional Auditor added that, regarding their value for creation and benefits to the citizenry, their audits in 2022 made a total of GHc 150,000.00 into the consolidated fund.
According to him, the office, which had issues with human capacity, broken down vehicles, deficiency issues, and the availability of laptops for staff to discharge their duties, was addressed by the Auditor General as those vehicles were repaired and new laptops were provided to augment their services.
Mr. Samuel Nii Odartey Lamptey said despite their achievements, there is a need for his outfit to be a model institution for their stakeholders; as such, they should free themselves from the conformity of others in all forms of unethical behaviours such as charging clients and negotiating on audit findings.
According to Mr. Peter Gyabaah Kumi, the District Manager for Bibiani-Anwhiaso, they used to attend meetings in Takoradi when there wasn’t a regional office.
He expressed his delight that their travel and expenses have greatly reduced following the opening of the regional office.
On his part, Rev. Ackaah Boateng, Head Pastor of Sefwi-Bekwai Assemblies of God, asked the staff of the Audit Service to seek God’s wisdom to help carry out their daily activities to meet their set goals to recover lost monies through corruption.
He said the Audit Service holds the highest integrity in the country in terms of service rendering; therefore, corruption should not be counted among officials in the service.
