A civil society activist, Dr. Steve Manteaw has described the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) as a useless institution that is not worth spending on.
His comment comes at a time when some other civil society groups and former Auditor General, Daniel Domelevo have suggested that the Audit Service, EOCO, Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and CHRAJ are better placed to audit the deal between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilsation Limited (SML).
They rejected the selection of accounting and audit firm KPMG by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the exercise.
Daniel Domelevo says the Audit Service is in a position to do a better job in auditing the agreement than KPMG.
He stated that the directive by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to KPMG will further waste public resources because state agencies such as EOCO, the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) and the Audit Service are there to perform this particular task.
Asked for his views on the directive while speaking on the News Central on TV3 Wednesday, January 3, Mr Domelevo said “It is not necessary, it is a further waste of public funds, because there are several anti-corruption agencies in the country. First, we have the EOCO, we have the OSP and if it is a matter of audit we have the Ghana Audit Service or the office of the Auditor-General.
Audit Service can do a better job than KPMG in auditing GRA-SML deal – Domelevo
“If you read Article 187 Clause 8 of the Constitution, it says that in the national interest the President, upon advice from the Council of State may ask the Auditor-General to conduct audits. So such audits can be done better by the Auditor-General instead of the KPMG.
“So my initial reaction is that this is a further wastage of public resources which must be avoided.”
Similarly, a Vice President of IMANI Africa, Bright Simons said the nature of the allegations against the deal required state bodies with the right powers and independence to audit.
“The terms of reference do not extend to a forensic examination of the procurement abuses (single sourcing of an unqualified entity) nor of the technology system purported to have been created for the job, etc. A detailed concurrent review by the OSP & CHRAJ is warranted.
Executive Director of the Africa Centre for Energy Policy Benjamin Boakye also said KPMG is a client of GRA, therefore, it would be unethical for it to accept this particular assignment.
“KPMG has its integrity at stake if it accepts this job. It is a client of GRA and its investigation against the leaders of one of its LARGE portfolios is exceedingly suspicious. Simply unethical,” he wrote on X.
Commenting on this development on his Facebook page, Dr Steve Manteaw said “If there is any institution in Ghana that is completely useless, and not worth spending on, it will be EOCO.”
However, his comment did not find favour in the eyes of another activist and political analyst, Kofi Asare.
Mr Asare replied to him saying “The evidence doesn’t support your claim. EOCO plays its role as per its statute and there are records of monetary recovery by them as relates to crime.”
In response, Dr Manteaw said “Have they seen the SML documentary? Do they see issues of Economic and Organised Crime in the evidences contained in the documentary? Or the issues under discussion fall outside their mandate.”