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Media must counter corruption – Tetteh
Accra, April 15, Ghanadot/GNA – The
President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Mr.
Ransford Tetteh on Tuesday said there could not be an
effective fight against corruption without the involvement
of the media.
At a day's seminar held for the media to build their
knowledge on the role of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA) in
Accra, he said government and the larger society must accept
the watchdog role of the media in promoting public
accountability and good governance and also give them the
necessary protection to carry out the onerous responsibility
at all times.
The Internal Audit Agency was established by Act 658 of 2003
to primarily ensure financial discipline and accountability
in the public sector as well as secure quality assurance of
the internal audit activities within state institutions.
Mr. Tetteh argued that the people could only hold the
government accountable if they knew what the government was
doing, adding that the media played the role of political
accountability and checks-and-balances, keeping an eye on
public officers and institutions and constantly challenging
them through interviews and debates, among others.
He, however, cautioned the media to criticize in faith to
ensure improvement in the prevailing situation rather than
maligning people in search of social and economic
emancipation.
Mr. Tetteh said the effectiveness of the media depended on
access to information as well as freedom of expression and
reiterated the call on government to expedite action on the
Freedom of Information Bill to improve access to information
and further expand the frontiers of free expression and a
free press.
Giving an overview of the operations of the Agency, Mr.
Thomas Abaidoo, Training and Capacity Development Manager,
said sine the IAA's take-off in 2005, the agency had, among
other things, facilitated the recruitment of internal audit
staff in Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) and
District Assemblies and trained Internal Audit staff.
The vision of the agency, he said, was to establish
professional internal auditing systems for the effective and
efficient monitoring of the acquisition, custody and
utilization of public resources.
Mr Abaidoo said, in carrying out its functions it was guided
by other statutes such as Financial Administrational Act,
Public Procurement Act, Financial Administration Regulations
and the enabling Acts establishing the particular public
institutions.
The Director-General of IAA, Mr. Patrick Nomo, said his
outfit considered the media as a very important stakeholder
and partner in the development of the nation and attainment
of the goals and objectives of the Agency.
He said, it was therefore critical that the media had a full
understanding of the work of the IAA in order to enhance the
performance of the media's agenda setting and watchdog role
as well as strategise on how best the IAA in collaboration
with the media can promote accountability and good
governance.
GNA
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