Dr. Eric Oduro Osae, Director-General of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) on 8th August, 2022 inaugurated the Audit Committee of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). Opening the inauguration, Mr. Joseph Whittal, the Commissioner of CHRAJ spoke on the purpose of the meeting and thanked the outgoing Committee for the work done. He indicated that the work of an Audit Committee is preventive in nature, in terms of accountability and governance. Mr. Whittal added that with the release of the Auditor-General’s Report with its findings and irregularities, it was time as an institution to sit up. He used the opportunity to advice Spending Officers to work with structures.  The Commissioner cautioned on the vigilance of the citizenry and advised that Management should work with the Committee and ensure the right thing is done. He assured his support and open doors to the Committee.
Addressing the meeting, Dr. Osae said CHRAJ is an important institution in the nation’s constitutional democracy and the Public Financial Management architecture and as such the Committee is expected to support leadership deliver on its mandate. Dr. Osae stated that, the roles of the Committee are provided for under the Public Financial Management (PFM) Act. He outlined them as mandatory, advisory and supporting roles. As part of the mandatory roles, the Director-General said the Committee is to support the institution implement recommendations from External and Internal Audit Reports, directives from the Public Account Committee (PAC) of Parliament and from any internal monitoring reports from the Commission. He said the Committee is required on an annual basis, to submit a report which indicates the extent to which it has supported the institution deliver on its mandate. The report, Dr. Osae said is to be circulated to the Auditor-General, the Director-General of IAA, the Office of the President and Parliament.
On the advisory roles he urged them to put their expertise at the disposal of the Commission. The Director-General advised that apart from financial audit, the Committee should be interested in performance audit due to the Commission’s key performance indicators as far as corruption is concerned and added that the exposure to risk is high in the work of the Commission. On the supporting role he tasked members to support the Internal Audit Unit to conduct risk-based audits on a quarterly basis and submit to appropriate institutions. Dr. Osae added that the work of the Internal Audit Unit and the Audit Committee is to support and advise Management as they are not Accountants or Internal Auditors but Lawyers committed to ensuring that the highest standards of human rights are upheld.
In concluding, Dr. Osae stressed on the importance of the Audit Committee in ensuring the implementation of the Auditor-General’s recommendations. He tasked the Committee to allow the institution benefit from its service and requested members to consider their appointment as a service to Ghana and support Management by guiding them to fully comply with the requirements of the PFM Act.
